


•^ '^.. 



-X <%- 



,-,4 V,,. 



..i'^ 






;<.^ 






.^^''^p 






Cl> f.L 



.^' 



A 



-i.' 



'^. .V 



!<^ 






%■ 


^^ 




\: 


= o' 




**..'• 

^ 


<^ 


% 


4^ 


■^^■ 


■\ 



^^^ v^^ 



0^ .^".'r,-^ 












, >' ,0' 


















/^ 



-.^^ '^ 



% c,'^ 
A^^' '^^. 



»• .A 



aV c' 






■bo* ' - *-' '- 

\' ^ ,, '" '^ 

^,/- '^"^'^J''^ -^^'^ :f 






.v^' 






'c- V -^ ^'^ ^' 





















.'^ .-0" '■^o. '', 



cPV - - - °-. ^^ 






SKETCHES 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OP 



PATRICK HENRY. 



BY WILLIAM WIRT, 



OF BICBMOND, VIBOINIA. 



" In quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante ilium, quem ille imitarateur neque post 
ilium qui eum imitari poosset, inventus est." Patkrc. lib. i. cap. v. 



NINTH EDITION, CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR 



PHILADELPfflA: 
DESILVER, THOMAS & Co. 



1836. 
.1^ 



District of Pennsylvania, to wit : 

Be it Remembered, That, on the twenty-first day of March, in the forty-second year 
of the Independence of the United States of America, James Webster, of the said Dis- 
trict, hath deposited in this office tlie title of a booli, tlie right whereof he claims as pro- 
prietor, in the words following, to wit : " Sketches of tlie Life and Character of Patrick 
llenry. By William Wirt, of Richmond, Virginia. Second edition, corrected by the Author. 
In quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante ilium, quem ille imitaretur, neque post ilium, 
qui eum imitari posset, inventus est. Palerc. hb. i. cap. v." In conformity to the act of 
Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by se- 
curing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such co- 
pies, during the time therein mentioned;" and iilso to an act, entitled, "An act supplemen- 
tary to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copiea 
of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and propnetoi's of such copies, during the time 
therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, 
and etching, historical and other Prints." D. Caldwell, 

Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 

Re-entered, according to the act of Congress, in the year 1832, by M'Elrath & Bangs, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 

Stereotyped by Redfield Sf Lindsay, 

CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK. 



TO 

THE YOUNG MEN OF VIRGINIA, 

THIS WORK 
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

The reader has a right to know what degree 
of credit is due to the following narrative ; and 
it is the object of this preface to give him that 
satisfaction. 

It was in the summer of 1805, that the design 
of writing this biography vi^as first conceived 
It was produced by an incident of feeling, which, 
however it affected the author at the time, might 
now be thought light and trivial by the reader ; 
and he shall not, therefore, be detained by the 
recital of it. The author knew nothing of Mr. 
Henry, personally. He had never seen him ; and 
was of course compelled to rely wholly on the 
information of others. As soon, therefore, as the 
design was formed of writing his life, aware of 
the necessity of losing no time in collecting, from 
the few remaining coevals of Mr. Henry, that 
personal knowledge of the subject which might 
ere long be expected to die with them, the author 
despatched letters to every quarter of the state 



vi PREFACE. 

in which it occurred to him as probable that 
interesting matter might be found ; and he was 
gratified by the prompt attention which was paid 
to his inquiries. 

There were, at that time, Uving in the county of 
Hanover, three gentlemen of the first respectability, 
who had been the companions of Mr. Henry's 
childhood and youth; these were. Col. Charles 
Dabney, Capt. George Dabney, and Col. William 
O. Winston ; the two first of whom are still living. 
Not having the pleasure of a personal acquaint- 
ance with these gentlemen, the author interested 
the late Mr. Nathaniel Pope in his object, and, 
by his instrumentality, procured all the useful 
information which was in their possession. Mr. 
Pope is well known to have been a gentleman of 
uncommonly vigorous and discriminating mind ; 
a sacred observer of truth, and a man of the purest 
sense of honour. The author cannot recall the 
memory of this most amiable and excellent man, 
to whom (if there be any merit in this work) the 
friends of Mr. Henry and the state of Virginia owe 
so many obligations, without paying to that revered 
memory the tribute of his respect and affection. 
Mr. Pope was one of those ardent young Virginians, 



PREFACE. vii 

who embarked before they had attained their ma- 
turity, in the cause of the American revolution: 
he joined an animated and active corps of horse, 
and signaHzed himself by an impetuous gallantry, 
which drew upon him the eyes and the applause 
of his commander. In peace, he was as mild as 
he had been brave in war ; his bosom was replete 
with the kindest affections ; he was, in truth, one 
of the best of companions, and one of the warmest 
of friends. The fact that he was the acknow- 
ledged head of the several bars at which he 
practised in the country, may assure the reader 
of his capacity for the commission which he so 
cheerfully undertook, in regard to Mr. Henry ; 
and the unblemished integrity of his life may 
assure him also of the fidelity with which that 
commission was executed. So many important 
anecdotes in the following work depend on the 
credit of this gentleman as a witness, that the 
slight sketch which has been given of his charac- 
ter, will not, it is hoped, be thought foreign to the 
purpose of this preface. Mr. Pope did not con- 
fine his inquiries to the county of Hanover: he 
was indefatigable in collecting information from 
every quarter ; which he never accepted, how- 



viii PREFACE. 

ever, but from the purest sources ; and his au- 
thority for every incident was given with the most 
scrupulous accuracy. The author had hoped to 
have had it in his power to gratify this gentleman, 
by submitting to his view the joint result of their 
labours, and obtaining the benefit of his last cor- 
rections ; but he was disappointed by his untimely 
and melancholy death. He fell a victim to that 
savage practice, which, under the false name of 
honour, continued to prevail too long ; and his 
death is believed to have been highly instru- 
mental in hastening that system of legislation in 
restraint of this practice, which now exists in 
Virginia. 

Besides the contributions furnished by Mr. Pope, 
the writer derived material aid from various other 
quarters. The widow of Mr. Henry was still liv- 
ing, and had intermarried with Judge Winston; 
from this gentleman (who was also related to Mr. 
Henry by blood, and had been intimately acquainted 
with him through the far greater part of his life,) 
the author received a succinct, but extremely 
accurate and comprehensive memoir. 

Col. Meredith, of Amherst, was a few years 
older than Mr. Hen^y, bad been raised in the 



PREFACE. ix 

same neighbourhood, and had finally married one 
of his sisters. Having known Mr. Henry from his 
birth to his death, he had it in his power to supply 
very copious details, which were taken dow^n from 
his narration by the present Judge Cabell, and 
forwarded to the author. 

One of the most intimate and confidential friends 
of Mr. Henry was the late Judge Tyler. The 
judge had a kind of Roman frankness, and even 
bluntness, in his manners, together with a decision 
of character and a benevolence of spirit, which had 
attached Mr. Henry to him, from his first appear- 
ance on the public stage. They were, for a long 
time, members of the House of Delegates together, 
and their friendship continued until it was severed 
by death. From Judge Tyler the author received 
a very minute and interesting communication of 
incidents, the whole of which had either passed in 
his own presence, or had been related to him by 
Mr. Henry himself. 

The writer is indebted to Judge Tucker for 
two or three of his best incidents ; one of them 
will probably be pronounced the most interesting 
passage of the work. He owes to the same gen- 
tleman, too, the fullest and liveliest description of 



X PREFACE. 

the person of Mr. Henry, which has been fur- 
nished from any quarter; and he stands further 
indebted to him for a rare and (to the purpose of 
this work) a very important book — ^the Journals 
of the House of Burgesses for the years 1763-4- 
5-6 and 7. 

From Judge Roane the author has received one 
of the fairest and most satisfactory communications 
that has been made to him ; and the vigour and 
elegance with which that gentleman writes, has 
frequently enabled the author to reheve the dulness 
of his own narrative, by extracts from his statements. 

Mr. Jefferson, too, has exercised his well-known 
' kindness and candour on this occasion ; having not 
only favoured the author with a very full com- 
munication in the first instance ; but assisted him, 
subsequently and repeatedly, with his able counsel, 
in reconciling apparent contradictions, and clearing 
away difficulties of fact. 

Besides these statements, drawn from the memory 
of his correspondents, the writer was favoured, by 
the late Governor Page, with the reading of a 
pretty extended sketch, which he had himself 
prepared, of the life of Mr. Henry; and he has, 
furthermore, availed himself of the kind permission 



PREFACE, xi 

of Mr. Peyton Randolph, to examine an extremely 
valuable manuscript history of Virginia, written 
by his father, the late Mr. Edmund Randolph ; 
which embraces the whole period of Mr. Henry's 
public life. 

In addition to these stores of information, the 
author has had the good fortune to procure com- 
plete files of the public newspapers, reaching from 
the year 1765 down to the close of the American 
revolution ; by these he has been enabled to correct, 
in some important instances, the memory of his 
correspondents, in relation not only to dates, but to 
facts themselves. 

He has been fortunate, too, in having procured 
several original letters, which shed much light on 
important and hitherto disputed facts, in the life of 
Mr. Henry. 

The records of the General Court, and the 
archives of the state, having been convenient to 
the author, and always open to him, he has en- 
deavoured assiduously and carefully to avail him- 
self of that certain and permanent evidence which 
they afford ; and has been enabled, by this means, 
as the reader will discover, to correct some strange 
mistakes in historical facts. 



xii PREFACE. 

The author's correspondents will find, that he has 
departed, in some instances, from their respective 
statements; and he owes them an explanation 
for having done so : the explanation is this — 'their 
statements were, in several instances, diametrically 
opposed to each other; and were sometimes all 
contradicted by the public prints, or the records 
of the state. It ought not to be matter of surprise, 
that these contradictions should exist, even among 
those most respectable gentlemen, relying, as they 
did, upon human memory merely; and speaking of 
events so very remote, without a previous oppor- 
tunity of communicating with each other. It will 
be seen by them, that the author has been obliged, 
in several instances, to contradict even the several 
histories of the times, concerning which he writes ; 
but this he has never done, without the most de- 
cisive proofs of his own correctness, which he has 
always cited; nor has he ever departed from the 
narratives of his several correspondents, except 
under the direction of preponderating evidence. 
As among those contradictory statements, all could 
not be true, he has sought the correction by pubHc 
documents, when such correction was attainable; 
and when it was not, he has selected, among his 



PREFACE. xiii 

narrators, those whose opportunities to know the 
fact in question seemed to be the best. This he 
has done, without the sHghtest intention to throw a 
shadow of suspicion on the credit of any gentleman 
who has been so obhging as to answer his inquiries ; 
but merely from the necessity which he was under, 
either of making some selection, or abandoning 
the work altogether ; and because he knew of no 
better rule of selection, than that which he has 
adopted. 

Although it has been so long since the collection 
of these materials was begun, it was not until 
the summer of 1814 that the last communication 
was received. Even then, when the author sat 
down to the task of imbodying his materials, there 
were so many intricacies to disentangle, and so 
many inconsistencies, from time to time, to explain 
and settle, and that, too, through the tedious agency 
of cross-mails, that his progress was continually 
impeded, and has been, to him, most painfully 
retarded. 

Other causes, too, have contributed to delay the 
publication. The author is a practising lawyer; 
and the courts which he attends, keep him per- 
petually and exclusively occupied in that attendance, 



xiv PREFACE. 

through ten months of the year ; nor does the 
summer recess of two months afford a remission 
from professional labour. In Virginia, the duties 
of attorney, counsellor, conveyancer, and advocate, 
are all performed by the same individual; hence, 
the summer vacation, instead of being a time of 
leisure, is not only the season of preparation for the 
approaching courts, but is subject, moreover, to a 
perpetual recurrence of v^^hat are here called office 
duties, M^hich renders a steady application to any 
other subject impossible. 

These sketches are now submitted to the public, 
with unaffected diffidence ; not of the facts v^^hich 
they detail, for on them the author has the firmest 
reliance ; but of the manner in which he has been 
able to accomplish his undertaking. For (to say 
nothing of his inexperience and want of ability for 
such a work) he has been compelled to write 
(when he was suffered to write at all) amidst that 
incessant professional annoyance which has been 
mentioned, and which is known by every man who 
has ever made the trial, to forbid the hope of 
success in any composition of this extent. Could 
the writer have looked forward, with any reason- 
able calculation, to a period of greater ease, his 



PREFACE. XV 

respect for the memory of Mr. Henry, as well as 
his regard for himself, would have induced him to 
suspend this undertaking until that period should 
have arrived. But having no ground for any hope 
of this kind, he has thought it better to hazard even 
these crude sketches, than to suffer the materials, 
which he had accumulated with so much toil, and 
for an object which he thought so laudable, to perish 
on his hands. 

These remarks are not made with the view of 
deprecating the censures of critics by profession; 
Ijut merely to bespeak the candour of that larger 
portion of readers, who are willing to be pleased 
with the best efforts that can be reasonably ex- 
pected from the circumstances of the case. The 
author, however, is well satisfied that the most 
indulgent reader (although benevolently disposed 
to overlook defects of execution) will be certainly 
disappointed in the matter itself of this work ; for, 
notwithstanding all his exertions, he is entirely 
conscious that the materials, which he has been 
able to collect, are scanty and meager, and utterly 
disproportionate to the great fame of Mr. Henry. 
It is probable, that much of what was once known 
of him had perished, before the author commenced 



xvi PREFACE. 

his researches ; and, it is very possible, that much 
may still be known, which he has not been able to 
discover ; because it lies in unsuspected sources, or 
with persons unwilling-, for some reason or other, 
to communicate their information. It is the con- 
viction, that he has not been able to inform himself 
of the whole events of Mr. Henry's life, and that 
his collection can be considered only as so many 
detached sketches. If, in this humble and un- 
assuming character, it shall give any pleasure to 
the numerous admirers of Mr. Henry, in Virginia, 
the author will have attained all that he has a right 
to expect. 

Richmond, Va., Sept. 5th, 1817. 



UFE OF PATRICK HENRY. 



WIRT'S 



LIFE OF PATRICK HENRY. 



SECTION I 

Patrick Henry, the second son of John and Sarah 
Henry, and one of nine children, was born on the 29th of 
May, 1736, at the family seat, called Studley, in the county 
of Hanover and colony of Virginia. In his early childhood, 
his parents removed to another seat, in the same county, then 
called Mount Brilliant, now the Retreat ; at which latter 
place Patrick Henry was raised and educated. His pa- 
rents, though not rich, were in easy circumstances ; and, in 
point of personal character, were among the most respectable 
inhabitants of the colony. 

His father. Col. John Henry, was a native of Aberdeen in 
Scotland. He was, it is said, a first cousin to David Henry, 
who was the brother-in-law and successor of Edward Cave, 
in the publication of that celebrated work, The Gentle- 
man's Magazine, and himself the author of several literary 
tracts : John Henry is also said to have been a nephew, 
in the maternal line, to the great historian Dr. William Ro- 
bertson. He came over to Virginia, in quest of fortune, some 
time prior to the year 1730, and the tradition is, that he en- 
(19) 



20 wirt's life of 

joyed the friendship and patronage of Mr. Dinwiddie, after- 
ward the governor of the colony. By this gentleman, it is 
reported, that he was introduced to the elder Col. Syme of 
Hanover, in whose family, it is certain, that he became do- 
mesticated dm-ing the life of that gentleman; after whose 
death he intermarried with his widow, and resided on the 
estate which he had left. It is considered as a fair proof of 
the personal merit of Mr. John Henry, that, in those days, 
when offices were bestowed with peculiar caution, he was the 
colonel of his regiment, the principal surveyor of the county, 
and for many years, the presiding magistrate of the county 
court. His surviving acquaintances concur in stating, that 
he was a man of liberal education ; that he possessed a plain, 
yet solid understanding; and lived long a life of the most 
irreproachable integrity, and exemplary piety. His brother 
Patrick, a clergyman of the chiurch of England, followed 
him to this country some years afterward ; and became, by 
his influence, the minister of St. Paul's parish in Hanover, 
the functions of which office he sustained throughout life 
with great respectability. Both the brothers were zealous 
members of the established church, and warmly attached to 
the reigning family. Col. John Henry was conspicuously 
so. " There are those yet alive," says a correspondent,* " who 
have seen him at the head of his regiment, celebrating the 
birthday of George the HI. with as much enthusiasm as his 
son Patrick afterward displayed in resisting the encroach- 
ments of that monarch."! 

* Mr. Pope, in 1805. 

t Mr. Burk's account of Mr. Henry is extremely careless and full 
of errors. He begins by making him the son of his uncle : — " Patrick 
Henry, the son of a Scotch gentleman of the same name,''^ &c.— 3d 
vol. of the History of Virginia, page 300. 



PATRICK HENRY. 21 

Mrs. Henry, the widow of Col. Syme, as we have seen, 
and the mother of Patrick Henry, was a native of Hanover 
county, and of the family of Winstons. She possessed, in an 
eminent degree, the mild and benevolent disposition, the 
undeviating probity, the correct understanding, and easy elo- 
cution by which that ancient family has been so long distin- 
guished. Her brother William, the father of the present 
Judge Winston, is said to have been highly endowed with 
that peculiar cast of eloquence, for which Mr. Hemy became, 
afterward, so justly celebrated. Of this gentleman, I have 
an anecdote from a correspondent,* which I shall give in his 
own words : " I have often heard my father, who was in- 
timately acquainted with this William Winston, say, that he 
was the greatest orator whom he ever heard, Patrick Henry 
excepted ; that during the last French and Indian war, and 
soon after Braddock's defeat, when the militia were marched 
to the frontiers of Virginia against the enemy, this William 
Winston was the lieutenant of a company; that the men, 
who were indifferently clothed, without tents, and exposed 
to the rigour and inclemency of the weather, discovered great 
aversion to the service, and were anxious and even clamor- 
ous to return to their families ; when this William Winston, 
mounting a stump, (the common rostrum, you know, of the 
field-orator of Virginia,) addressed them with such keenness 
of invective, and declaimed with such force of eloquence, on 
liberty and patriotism, that when he concluded, the general 
cry was, ' Let us march on ; lead us against the enemy !' and 
they were now willing, nay, anxious to encounter all those 
difficulties and dangers which, but a few moments before, 
had almost produced a mutiny." 

♦ Mr. Pope. 



22 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Tims inucli I have been able lo collect of the parentage 
and family of Mr. llcnry ; and this, I presume, will be 
thought quite sufficient, in relation to a man, who owed no 
part of his greatness to the lustre of his pedigree, but was 
in truth the sole founder of his own fortunes. 

Until ten years of age, Patrick Henry was sent to a school 
in the meighbourhood, where he learned to read and write, 
and made some small progress in arithmetic. He was then 
taken home, and under the direction of his father, who had 
opened a grammar-school in his own house, he acquired a 
superficial knowledge of the Latin language, and learned 
to read the character, but never to translate Greek. At the 
same time, he made a considerable proficiency in the mathema- 
tics, the only In-anch of education for which, it seems, he dis- 
covered, in his youth, the slightest predilection. But he 
' was too idle to gain any solid advantage from the opportuni- 
ties which were thrown in his way. He was passionately ad- 
dicted to the sports of the field, and could not support the con- 
finement and toil which education required. Hence, in- 
stead of system or any semblance of regularity in his studies, 
his efforts were always desultory, and became more and 
more rare ; until at length, when the hour of his school ex- 

f ercises arrived, Patrick was scarcely ever to be found. He 
was in the forest with his gun, or over the brook with his 
, angle-rod ; and, in these frivolous occupations, when not con- 
trolled by the authority of his father, (which was rarely ex- 
erted,) he would, it is said, spend whole days and weeks, with 

♦ an appetite rather whetted than cloyed by enjoyment. His 
school-tellows, having observed his growing passion for these 
anuiscnieiUs, and having remarked that its progress was not 
checked either by the want of companions or the want of suc- 
cess, have frequently watched his movements to discover, if 



PATRICK HENRY. 23 

they could, the secret source of that dehght which they seem- 
ed to afford him. But they made no discovery which led 
them to any other conclusion than (to use their own expres- 
sion) " that he loved idleness for its own sake." They have 
frequently observed him lying along, under the shade of some 
tree that overhung the sequestered stream, watching, for 
hours, at the same spot, the motionless cork of his fishing- 
line, without one encouraging symptom of success, and with- 
out any apparent source of enjoyment, unless he could find 
it in the ease of his posture, or in the illusions of hope, or, 
which is most probable, in the stillness of the scene and the 
silent workings of his own imagination. This love of soli- 
tude, in his youth, was often observed. Even when hunt- 
ing with a party, his choice was not to join the noisy band 
that drove the deer; he preferred to take his stand, alone, 
where he might wait for the passing game, and indulge 
himself, meanwhile, in the luxury of thinking. Not that he 
was averse to society ; on the contrary, he had, at times, a 
very high zest for it. But even in society, his enjoyments, 
while young, were of a peculiar cast ; he did not mix in the 
wild mirth of his equals in age ; but sat, quiet and demure, 
taking no part in the conversation, giving no responsive smile 
to the circulating jest, but lost, to all appearance, in silence 
and abstraction. This abstraction, however, was only appa- 
rent ; for on the dispersion of a company, when interrogated 
by his parents as to what had been passing, he was able, not 
only to detail the conversation, but to sketch with strict fidel- 
ity, the character ofevery speaker. None of these early de- 
lineations of character are retained by his contemporaries ; 
and, indeed, they are said to have been more remarkable for 
their justness, than for any peculiar felicity of execution. 
I cannot learn that he gave, in his youth, any evidence 



24 WIRT S LIFE OF 

of that precocity which sometimes distinguishes uncommon 
genius. His companions recollect no instance of premature 
wit, no striking sentiment, no flash of fancy, no remarkable 
beauty or strength of expression ; and no indication, however 
slight, either of that impassioned love of liberty, or of that 
adventurous daring and intrepidity, which marked, so strong- 
ly, his future character. So far was he, indeed, from exhibit- 
ing any one prognostic of this greatness, that every omen 
foretold a life, at best, of mediocrity, if not of insignificance. 
His person is represented as having been coarse, his manners 
uncommonly awkward, his dress slovenly, his conversation 
very plain, his aversion to study invincible, and his faculties 
almost entirely benumbed by indolence. No persuasion 
could bring him either to read or to work. On the contrary, 
he ran wild in the forest, like one of the ahorigines of the 
country, and divided his life between the dissipation and up- 
roar of the chase and the languor of inaction. 

His propensity to observe and comment upon the human 
character was, so far as I can learn, the only circumstance 
which distinguished him, advantageously, from his youthful 
companions. This propensity seems to have been born with 
him, and to have exerted itself, instinctively, the moment 
that a new subject was presented to his view. Its action 
was incessant, and it became, at length, almost the only in- 
tellectual exercise in which he seemed to take delight. To 
this cause may be traced that consummate knowledge of the 
human heart which he finally attained, and which enabled 
him, when he came upon the public stage, to touch the 
springs of passion with a master-hand, and to control the 
resolutions and decisions of his hearers, with a power, almost 
more than mortal. 

From what has been already stated, it will be seen how 



PATRICK HENRY. 25 

little education had to do with the formation of this great 
man's mind. He was, indeed, a mere child of nature, and 
nature seems to have been too proud and too jealous of her 
work, to permit it to be touched by the hand of art. She 
gave him Shakspeare's genius, and bade him, like Shak- 
speare, to depend on that alone. Let not the youthful reader, 
however, deduce, from the example of Mr. Henry, an argu- 
ment in favour of indolence and the contempt of study. Let 
him remember that the powers which surmounted the dis- 
advantage of those early habits, were such as very rarely 
appear upon this earth. Let him remember, too, how long 
the genius, even of Mr. Henry, was kept down arid hidden 
from the public view, by the sorcery of those pernicious ha- 
bits ; through what years of poverty and wretchedness they 
doomed him to struggle ; and, let him remember, that at 
length, when in the zenith of his glory, Mr. Henry himself 
had frequent occasions to deplore the consequences of his 
early neglect of literature, and to bewail " the ghosts of his 
departed hours." 

His father, unable to sustain, with convenience, the ex- 
pense of so large a family as was now multiplying on his 
hands, found it necessar}' to qualify his sons, at a very early 
age, to support themselves. With this view, Patrick was 
placed, at the age of fifteen, behind the counter of a merchant 
in the country. How he conducted himself in this situation, 
I have not been able to learn. There could not, however, I 
presume, have been any flagrant impropriety in his conduct, 
since, in the next year, his father considered him qualified 
to carry on business on his own account. Under this im- 
pression, he purchased a small adventure of goods for his 
two sons, WilHam and Patrick, and, according to the lan- 
guage of the country, " set them up in trade." Williaxn's 
D 3 



26 WIRT's life of 

habits of idleness were, if possible, still more unfortunate than 
Patrick's. The chief management of their concerns devolv- 
ed, therefore, on the younger brother, and that management 
seems to have been most wretched. 

Left to himself, all the indolence of his character returned. 
Those unfortunate habits which he had formed, and whose 
spell was already too strong to be broken, comported very 
poorly with that close attention, that accuracy and perseve- 
ring vigour, which are essential to the merchant. The 
drudgery of retailing and of book-keeping soon became in- 
tolerable ; yet he was obliged to preserve appearances by re- 
maining continually at his stand. Besides these unpropi- 
tious habits, there was still another obstacle to his success, 
in the natural kindness of his temper. " He could not find 
it in his heart" to disappoint any one who came to him for 
credit; and he was very easily satisfied by apologies for 
non-payment. He condemned, in himself, this facility of 
temper, and foresaw the embarrassments with which it 
threatened him; but he was unable to overcome it. Even 
with the best prospects, the confinement of such a business 
would have been scarcely supportable ; but with those which 
now threatened him, his store became a prison. To make 
the matter still worse, the joys of the chase, joys now to him 
forbidden, echoed around him every morning, and by their 
contrast, and the longings which they excited, contributed 
to deepen the disgust which he had taken to his employ- 
ments. 

From these painful reflections, and the gloomy forebodings 
which darkened the future, he sought, " at first, a refuge in 
music, for which it seems he had a natural taste, and he 
learned to play well on the violin and on the flute. From 
music he passed to books, and, having procured a few light 



PATRICK HENRY. 27 

and elegant authors, acquired, for the first time, a rehsh for 
reading. 

He found another rehef, too, in the frequent opportunities 
now afforded him of pursuing his favourite study of the hu- 
man character. The character of every customer underwent 
this scrutiny ; and that, not with reference either to the in- 
tegrity or solvency of the individual, in which one would 
suppose that Mr. Henry would feel himself most interested ; 
but in relation to the structure of his mind, the general cast 
of his opinions, the motives and principles which influenced 
his actions, and what may be called the philosophy of char- 
acter. In pursuing these investigations, he is said to have 
resorted to arts, apparently so far above his years, and which 
looked so much like an afterthought, resulting from his future 
eminence, that I should hesitate to make the statement, were 
it not attested by so many witnesses, and by some who can- 
not be suspected of the capacity for having fabricated the 
fact. Their account of it, then, is this : — that whenever a 
company of his customers met in the store, (which frequently 
happened on the last day of the week,) and were themselves 
sufliciently gay and animated to talk and act as nature 
prompted, without concealment, without reserve, he would 
take no part in their discussions, but listen with a silence as 
deep and attentive as if under the influence of some potent 
charm. If, on the contrary, they were dull and silent, he 
would, without betraying his drift, task himself to set them 
in motion, and excite them to remark, collision, and ex- 
clamation. He was peculiarly delighted with comparing 
their characters, and ascertaining how they would severally 
act in given situations. With this view he would state a 
h3rpothetic case, and call for their opinions, one by one, as to 



28 WIRT's life of 

the conduct which would be proper in it. If they differed 
he would demand their reasons, and enjoy highly the de- 
bates in which he would thus involve them. By multiply- 
ing and varying those imaginary cases at pleasure, he as- 
certained the general course of human opinion, and formed, 
for himself, as it were, a graduated scale of the motives and 
conduct which are natural to man. Sometimes he would 
entertain them with stories, gathered from his reading, or, 
as was more frequently the case, drawn from his own fancy, 
composed of heterogeneous circumstances, calculated to ex- 
cite, by turns, pity, terror, resentment, indignation, contempt ; 
pausing, in the turns of his narrative, to observe the effect; 
to watch the different modes in which the passions expressed 
themselves, and learn the language of emotion from those 
children of nature. 

In these exercises, Mr. Henry could have had nothing in 
view beyond the present gratification of a natural propensity. 
The advantages of them, however, were far more perma- 
nent, and gave the brightest colours to his future life. For 
those continual efforts to render himself intelligible to his 
plain and unlettered hearers, on subjects entirely new to 
them, taught him that clear and simple style which forms 
the best vehicle of thought to a popular assembly ; while his 
attempts to interest and affect them, in order that he might 
hear from them the echo of nature's voice, instructed him in 
those topics of persuasion by which men were the most cer- 
tainly to be moved, and in the kind of imagery and structui-e 
of language, which were the best fitted to strike and agitate 
their hearts. These constituted his excellencies as an orator; 
and never was there a man, in any age, who possessed, in a 
more eminent degree, the lucid and nervous style of argu- 



PATRICK HENRY. 29 

ment, the command of the most beautiful and striking im- 
agery, or that language of passion which burns from soul 
to soul. 

In the meantime, the business of the store was rushing 
headlong to its catastrophe. One year put an end to it. 
William was then thrown loose upon society, to which he 
was never afterward usefully attached;* and Patrick was 
engaged for the two or three following years, in winding up 
this disastrous experiment as well as he could. 

His misfortunes, however, seem not to have had the effect 
either of teaching him prudence or of chilling his affections. 
For, at the early age of eighteen, we find him married to a 
Miss Shelton, the daughter of an honest farmer in the neigh- 
bourhood, but in circumstances too poor to contribute effec- 
tually to her support. By the joint assistance of their parents, 
however, the young couple were settled on a small farm, and 
here, with the assistance of one or two slaves, Mr. Henry had 
to delve the earth, with his own hands, for subsistence. Such 
are the vicissitudes of human life ! It is curious to contem- 
plate this giant genius, destined in a few years to guide the 
councils of a mighty nation, but unconscious of the intellec- 
tual treasures which he possessed, encumbered, at the early 
age of eighteen, with the cares of a family; obscure, un- 
known, and almost unpitied; digging, with wearied limbs 

* I have seen aa original letter from Col. John Henry to his son 
William, in which he remonstrates with him on his Avild and dissipa- 
ted course of life. There is reason to believe, however, that at a later 
period, he may have reformed, since a gentleman, to whom the manu- 
script of this work was submitted, notes on this passage, that when 
he was at college at Williamsburg, he recollects to have seen Wil- 
liam Henry a member of the assembly, from the county of Fluvanna ; 
that he was called colonel, and was, he afterward understood, pretty 
well provided as to fortune. 



30 WIRT S LIFE OF 

and with an aching heart, a small spot of barren earth, for 
bread, and blessing the hour of night which relieved him 
from toil. Little could the wealthy and great of the land, 
as they rolled along the highway in splendour, and beheld 
the young rustic at work in the coarse garb of a labourer, 
covered with dust and melting in the sun, have suspected 
that this was the man who was destined not only to humble 
their pride, but to make the prince himself tremble on his 
distant throne, and to shake the brightest jewels from the 
British crown. Little, indeed, could he hunself have sus- 
pected it; for amidst the distresses which thickened around 
him at this time, and threatened him not only with obscurity 
but with famine?, no hopes came to cheer the gloom, nor did 
their remain to him any earthly consolation, save that which 
he found in the bosom of his own family. Fortunately for 
him, there never was a heart which felt this consolation with 
greater force. No man ever possessed the domestic virtues 
in a higher degree, or enjoyed, more exquisitely, those pure 
delights which flow from the endearing relations of conjugal 
life. 

Mr. Henry's want of agricultmral skill, and his uncon- 
querable aversion to every species of systematic labour, drove 
him, necessarily, after a trial of two years, to abandon this 
pursuit altogether. His next step seems to have been dictated 
by absolute despair ; for, selling off his little possessions, at a 
sacrifice for cash, he entered, a second time, on the inauspi- 
cious business of merchandise. Perhaps he flattered himself 
that he would be able to profit by his past experience, and 
conduct this experiment to a more successful issue. But 
if he did so, he deceived himself. He soon found that he had 
not changed his character, by changing his pursuits. His 
early habits still continued to haunt him. The same want 



PATRICK HENRY. 31 

of method, the same facihty of temper, soon became apparent 
by their ruinous elFects. He resumed his viohn, his flute, 
his books, his curious inspection of human nature ; and not 
unfrequently ventured to shut up his store, and indulge him- 
self in the favourite sports of his youth. 

His reading, however, began to assume a more serious 
character. He studied geography, in which it is said that he 
became an adept. He read, also, the charters and history 
of the colony. He became fond of historical works generally, 
particularly those of Greece and Rome ; and, from the tena- 
city of his memory and the strength of his judgment, soon 
made himself a perfect master of their contents. Livy was 
his favourite ; and having procured a translation, he became 
so much enamoured of the work, that he made it a standing 
rule to read it through, once at least, in every year, during 
the early part of his life.* The grandeur of the Roman 
character, so beautifully exhibited by Livy, filled him with 
surprise and admiration ; and he was particularly enraptured 
with those vivid descriptions and eloquent harangues with 
which the work abounds. Fortune could scarcely have 
thrown in his way, a book better fitted to foster his repub- 
lican spirit, and awaken the still dormant powers of his ge- 
nius ; and it seems not improbable, that the lofty strain in 
which he himself afterward both spoke and acted, was, if 
not originally inspired, at least highly raised, by the noble 
models set before him by this favourite author. 

This second mercantile experiment was still more un- 
fortunate than the first. In a few years it left him a bank- 
rupt, and placed him in a situation than which it is difficult 
to conceive one more wretched. Every atom of his property 

* Judge Nelson had this statement from Mr. Henry himself. 



32 wirt's life of 

was now gone, his friends were unable to assist him any 
further ; he had tried every means of support, of which he 
could suppose himself capable, and every one had failed; 
ruin was behind him ; poverty, debt, want, and famine, be- 
fore; and, as if his cup of misery were not already full 
enough, here were a suffering wife and children to make it 
overflow. 

But with all his acuteness of feeling, Mr. Henry possessed 
great native firmness of character; and, let me add, great 
reliance, too, on that unseen arm which never long deserts 
the faithful. Thus supported, he was able to bear up under 
the heaviest pressure of misfortune, and even to be cheerful, 
under circumstances which would sink most other men into 
despair. 

It was at this period of his fortunes, that Mr. Jefferson be- 
came acquainted with him ; and the reader, I am persuaded, 
will be gratified with that gentleman's own account of it. 
These are his words : — " My acquaintance with Mr. Henry 
commenced in the winter of 1759-60. On my way to the 
college, I passed the Christmas-holydays at Col. Dandridge's, 
in Hanover, to whom Mr. Henry was a near neighbour. 
During the festivity of the season, I met him in society every 
day, and we became well acquainted, although I was much 
his junior, being then in my seventeenth year, and he a mar- 
ried man. His manners had something of coarseness in 
them ; his passion was music, dancing, and pleasantry. He 
excelled in the last, and it attached every one to him. You 
ask some account of his mind and information at this period ; 
but you Avill recollect that we were almost continually en- 
gaged in the usual revelries of the season. The occasion, 
perhaps, as much as his idle disposition, prevented his en- 
gaging in any conversation which might give the measure 



PATRICK HENRY. 33 

either of his mind or information. Opportunity was not, in- 
deed, wholly wanting; because Mr. John Campbell was 
there, who had married Mrs. Spotswood, the sister of Col. 
Dandridge. He was a man of science, and often introduced 
conversation on scientific subjects. Mr. Henry had, a little 
before, broken up his store, or rather it had broken him up ; 
but his misfortimes were not to be traced, either in his coun- 
tenance or conduct." 

This cheerfulness of spirit, under a reverse of fortune so 
severe, is certainly a very striking proof of the manliness of 
liis character. It is not, indeed, easy to conceive that a mind 
like Mr. Henry's could finally sink under any pressiue of 
adversity. Such a mind, although it may not immediately 
perceive whither to direct its efforts, must always possess a 
consciousness of power sufficient to buoy it above despon- 
dency. But, be this as it may, of Mr. Henry it was certain- 
ly true, as Dr. Johnson has observed of Swift, that "he 
was not one of those who, having lost one part of life in 
idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder in 
despair." 

It seems to be matter of surprise, that even yet, amidst 
all those various struggles for subsistence, the powers of his 
mind had not so far developed themselves as to suggest to 
any friend the pursuit for which he was formed. He seems 
to have been a plant of slow growth ; but, like other plants 
of that nature, formed for duration, and fitted to endure the 
buffetings of the rudest storm. 

It was now, when all other experiments had failed, that, 
as a last effort, he determined, of his own accord, to make a 
trial of the law. No one expected him to succeed in any 
eminent degree. His unfortunate habits were, by no means, 
suited to so laborious a profession : and even if it were not 
E 



34 WIRT S LIFE OF 

too late in life for him to hope to master its learning, tlie 
situation of his affairs forbade an extensive course of reading. 
In addition to these obstacles, the business of the profession, 
in that quarter, was akeady in hands from which it was not 
easily to be taken ; for (to mention no others) Judge Lyons, 
the late president of the court of appeals, was then at the bar 
of Hanover, and the adjacent counties, with an unrivalled 
reputation for legal learning ; and Mr. John Lewis, a man, 
also, of very respectable legal attainments, occupied the 
whole field of forensic eloquence. Mr. Henry himself seems 
to have hoped for nothing more from the profession than a 
scanty subsistence for himself and his family, and his pre- 
paration was suited to these humble expectations ; for to the 
study of a profession, which is said to require the lucubrations 
of twenty years, Mr. Henry devoted not more than six weeks.* 
On this preparation, however, he obtained a license to prac- 
tise the law. How he passed with two of the examiners, I 
have no intelligence ; but he himself used to relate his inter- 
view with the third. This was no other than Mr. John Ran- 
dolph, who was afterward the king's attorney-general for the 
colony ; a gentleman of the most courtly elegance of person 
and manners, a polished wit, and a profound lawyer. At 
first, he was so much shocked by Mr. Henry's very ungainly 
figure and address, that he refused to examine him : under- 
standing, however, that he had already obtained two signa- 
tures, he entered, with manifest reluctance, on the business. 
A very short time was sufficient to satisfy him of the erro- 
neous conclusion which he had drawn from the exterior of 

* So say Mr. Jefferson and Judge Winston. Mr. Pope says nine 
months. Col. Meredith and Capt. Dabney, six or eight months. Judge 
Tyler, one month ; and he adds: " This I had from his own lips. In 
this time, he read Coke upon Littleton, and the Virginia laws." 



PATRICK HENRY. 35 

tlie candidate. With evident marks of increasing surprise, 
(produced no doubt by the pecuhar texture and strength of 
Mr. Henry's style, and the boldness and originality of his 
combinations,) he continued the examination for several 
hours : interrogating the candidate, not on the principles of 
municipal law^, in w^hich he no doubt soon discovered his 
deficiency, but on the lavv^s of natiure and of nations, on the 
policy of the feudal system, and on general history, which 
last he found to be his stronghold. During the very short 
portion of the examination which was devoted to the common 
law, Mr. Randolph dissented, or affected to dissent, from one 
of Mr. Henry's answers, and called upon him to assign the 
reasons of his opinion. This produced an argument ; and 
Mr. Randolph now played off on him the same arts which 
he himself had so often practised on his country customers ; 
drawing him out by questions, endeavouring to puzzle him 
by subtleties, assailing him with declamation, and watching 
continually the defensive operations of his mind. After a 
considerable discussion, he said : " You defend your opinions 
well, sir ; but now to the law and to the testimony." Here- 
upon, he carried him to his office, and opening the authori- 
ties, said to him : " Behold the face of natural reason ; you 
have never seen these books, nor this principle of the law ; 
yet you are right and I am wrong ; and from the lesson 
which you have given me (you must excuse me for saying 
it) I will never trust to appearances again. Mr. Henry, if 
your industry be only half equal to your genius, I augur that 
you will do well, and become an ornament and an honour 
to your profession." It was always Mr. Henry's belief that 
Mr. Randolph had affected this difference of opinion, merely 
to afford him the pleasure of a triumph, and to make some 
atonement for the wound which his first repulse had inflicted. 



36 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Be this as it may, the interview was followed by the most mark- 
ed and permanent respect on the part of Mr. Randolph, and the 
most sincere good-will and gratitude on that of Mr. Henry.* 

It was at the age of four and twenty that Mr. Henry ob- 
tained his license. Of the science of law, he knew almost 
nothing : of the practical part he was so wholly ignorant, 
that he was not only miable to draw a declaration or a plea, 
but incapable, it is said, of the most common or simple 
business of his profession, even of the mode of ordering a suit, 
giving a notice, or making a motion in court. It is not at 
all wonderful, therefore, that such a novice, opposed as he 
was by veterans, covered with the whole armour of the law, 
should linger in the background for three years.t 

During this time, the wants and distresses of his family 

* This account of Mr. Henry's examination is given by Judge Ty- 
ler, who states it as having come from Mr. Henry himself. It was writ- 
ten before I had received the following statement from Mr. Jefferson ; 
and although there is some difference in the circumstances, it has not 
been thought important enough to make an alteration of the text neces- 
sary. This is Mr. Jefferson's statement : — " In the spring of 1760, he 
came to Williamsburg to obtain a license as a lawyer, and he called 
on me at college. He told me he had been reading law only six weeks. 
Two of the examiners, however, Peyton and John Randolph, men of 
great facility of temper, signed his license with as much reluctance 
as their dispositions would permit them to show. Mr. Wythe abso- 
lutely refused. Robert C. Nicholas refused also at first; but, on re- 
peated importunities and promises of future reading, he signed. 
These facts I had afterward from the gentlemen themselves ; the two 
Randolphs acknowledging he was very ignorant of the law, but that 
they perceived him to be a young man of genius, and did not doubt 
that he would soon qualify himself." 

t " He was not distinguished at the bar for near four years." — Judge 
Winston : yet Mr. Burk intimates that he took the lead in his pro- 
fession at ouce. — Vol. 3d, 301. 



m 



PATRICK HENRY. 37 



were extreme. The profits of his practice could not have 
suppHed them even with the necessaries of life ; and he seems 
to have spent the greatest part of his time, both of his study 
of the law and the practice of the first two or three years, 
with his father-in-law, Mr. Shelton, who then kept the tavern 
at Hanover court-house. Whenever Mr. Shelton was from 
home, Mr. Henry supplied his place in the tavern, received 
the guests, and attended to their entertainment. All this 
was very natural in Mr. Hemry's situation, and seems to have 
been purely the voluntary movement of his naturally kind 
and obliging disposition. Hence, however, a story has arisen, 
that in the early part of his life, he was a barkeeper by pro- 
fession. The fact seems not to have been so : but if it had 
been, it would certainly have redounded much more to his 
honour than to his discredit; for as Mr. Henry owed no 
part of his distinction either to birth or fortune, but wholly 
to himself, the deeper the obscurity and poverty from which 
he emerged, the stronger is the evidence which it bears to his 
powers, and the greater glory does it shed around him. 

About the time of Mr. Henry's coming to the bar, a con- 
troversy arose in Virginia, which gradually produced a very 
strong excitement, and called to it, at length, the attention 
of the whole state. 

This was the famous controversy between the clergy on 
the one hand, and the legislature of the people of the colony 
on the other, touching the stipend claimed by the former ; 
and as this was the occasion on which Mr. Henry's genius 
first broke forth, those who take an interest in his life, will 
not be displeased by a particular account of the nature and 
grounds of the dispute. It will be borne in mind, that the 
church of England was at this period the established church 
of Virginia ; and by an act of assembly, passed so far back 

4 



38 WIRT S LIFE OF 

as the year 1696, each minister of a parish had been provided 
with an annual stipend of sixteen thousand pounds of to- 
bacco. This act was re-enacted, with amendments, in 1748, 
and in this form had received the royal assent. The price 
of tobacco had long remained stationary at two pence in the 
pound, or sixteen shillings and eight pence per hundred. 
According to the provisions of the law, the clergy had the 
right to demand, and were in the practice of receiving, pay- 
ment of their stipend in the specific tobacco ; unless they 
chose, for convenience, to commute it for money at the mar- 
ket-price. In the year 1755, however, the crop of tobacco 
having fallen short, the legislature passed " an act to enable 
the inhabitants of this colony to discharge their tobacco-debts 
in money for the present year:" by the provisions of which, 
" all persons, from whom any tobacco was due, were author- 
ized to pay the same either in tobacco or in money, after 
the rate of sixteen shillings and eight pence per hundred, 
at the option of the debtor T This act was to ' continue in 
force for ten months and no longer, and did not contain the 
usual clause of suspension, until it should receive the royal 
assent. Whether the scarcity of tobacco was so general and 
so notorious, as to render this act a measure of obvious hu- 
manity and necessity, or whether the clergy were satisfied 
by its generality, since it embraced sheriffs, clerks, attorneys, 
and all other tobacco-creditors, as well as themselves, or 
whether they acquiesced in it as a temporary expedient, which 
they supposed not likely to be repeated, it is certain, that no 
objection was made to the law at that time. They could 
not, indeed, have helped observing the benefits which the 
rich planters derived from the act ; for they were receiving 
from fifty to sixty shillings per hundred for their tobacco, 
while they paid off their debts, due in that article, at the old 



PATRICK HENRY. 39 

price of sixteen shillings and eight pence. Nothing, how- 
ever, was then said in defence either of the royal prerogative 
or of the rights of the clergy, but the law was permitted to 
go peaceably through its ten months' operation. The great 
tobacco-planters had not forgotten the fruits of this act, when, 
in the year 1758, upon a surmise that another short crop 
was likely to occur, the provisions of the act of 1755 were 
re-enacted, and the new law, like the former, contained no 
suspending clause. The crop, as had been anticipated, did 
fall short, and the price of tobacco rose immediately from 
sixteen and eight pence to fifty shillings per hundred. The 
clergy now took the alarm, and the act was assailed by an 
indignant, sarcastic, and vigorous pamphlet, entitled, '* The 
Two-Penny Act," from the pen of the Rev, John Camm, 
the rector of York-Hampton parish, and the Episcopalian 
commissary for the colony.* He was answered by two 
pamphlets, written, the one by Col, Richard Bland, and the 
other by Col. Landon Carter, in both which the commissary 
was very roughly handled. He replied, in a still severer 
pamphlet, under the ludicrous title of " The Colonels 
Dismounted." The Colonels rejoined; and this war of 
pamphlets, in which, with some sound argument, there 
was a great deal of what Dryden has called " the horse- 
play of raillery," was kept up, until the whole colony, 
which had at first looked on for amusement, kindled seri- 
ously in the contest from motives of interest. Such was 
the excitement produced by the discussion, and at length so 
strong the current against the clergy, that the printers found 

* The governor of Virginia represented the king ; the council, the 
house of lords ; and the Episcopalian commissary (a member of the 
council) represented the spiritual part of that house ; the house of 
burgesses was, of course, the house of commons. 



40 wirt's life of 

it expedient to shut their presses against them in this colony, 
and Mr. Camm had at last to resort to Maryland for publi- 
cation. These pamphlets are still extant ; and it seems im- 
possible to deny, at this day, that the clergy had much the 
best of the argument. The king in his council took up the 
subject, denounced the act of 1758 as a usurpation, and 
declared it utterly null and void. Thus supported, the clergy 
resolved to bring the question to a judicial test ; and suits 
were accordingly brought by them, in the various county 
courts of the colony, to recover their stipends in the specific 
tobacco. They selected the county of Hanover as the place 
of the first experiment ; and this was made in a suit insti- 
tuted by the Rev. James Maury,* against the collector of that 
county and his sureties. The record of this suit is now be- 
fore me. The declaration is founded on the act of 1748, 
which gives the tobacco ; the defendants pleaded specially the 
act of 1758, which authorizes the commutation into money, 
at sixteen and eight pence ; to this plea the plaintiff demur- 
red ; assigning for causes of demurrer, first, that the act of 
1758, not having received the royal assent, had not the force 
of a law ; and, secondly, that the king, in council, had de- 
clared the act null and void. The case stood for argument 
on the demurrer to the November term, 1763, and was argu- 
ed by Mr. Lyons for the plaintiff, and Mr. John Lewis for the 
defendants ; when the court, very much to the credit of their 

* Mr. Burk (vol. 3d, page 303) makes the Rev. Patrick Henry the 
plaintiff in this cause ; in this he is corrected by the records of the 
county. Mr. Burk also sets down " The Two-Penny Act,'' to the 
speculations of a man by the name of Dickinson ; in this he is confu- 
ted by the act itself; the preamble expressly founding it on the short- 
ness of the crop. 



PATRICK HENRY. 41 

candour and firmness, breasted the popular current by sus- 
taining the demurrer. Thus far, the clergy sailed before the 
wind, and concluded, with good reason, that their triumph 
was complete : for the act of 1758 having been declared void 
by the judgment on the demurrer, that of 1748 was left in 
full force, and became, in law, the only standard for the find- 
ing of the jury. Mr. Lewis was so thoroughly convinced of 
this, that he retired from the cause ; informing his clients 
that it had been, in effect, decided against them, and that 
there remained nothing more for him to do. In this despe- 
rate situation, they applied to Patrick Henry, and he under- 
took to argue it for them before a jury, at the ensuing term. 
Accordingly, on the first day of the following December, he 
attended the court, and, on his arrival, found in the court- 
yard such a concourse as would have appalled any other 
man in his situation. They were not the people of the 
county merely who were there, but visiters from all the 
counties, to a considerable distance around. The decision 
upon the demurrer had produced a violent ferment among 
the people, and equal exultation on the part of the clergy ; 
who attended the court in a large body, either to look down 
opposition, or to enjoy the final triumph of this hard-fought 
contest, which they now considered as perfectly secure. 
Among many other clergymen, who attended on this occa- 
sion, came the Reverend Patrick Henry, who was the plain- 
tiff" in another cause of the same nature, then depending in 
court. When Mr. Henry saw his uncle approach, he walked 
up to his carriage, accompanied by Col. Meredith, and ex- 
pressed his regret at seeing him there. "Why so ?" inquired 
the uncle. " Because, sir," said Mr. Henry, "you know that 
I have never yet spoken in public, and I fear that I shall be 
F 4* 



42 WIRT S LIFE OF 

too much overawed by your presence, to be able to do my 
duty to my clients ; besides, sir, I shall be obliged to say some 
hard things of the clergy, and I am very unwilling to give 
pain to your feelings." His uncle reproved him for having 
engaged in the cause ; which Mr. Henry excused by saying, 
that the clergy had not thought him worthy of being retained 
on their side, and he knew of no moral principle by which 
he was bound to refuse a fee from their adversaries ; besides, 
he confessed, that in this controversy, both his heart and 
judgment, as well as his professional duty, were on the side 
of the people ; he then requested that his uncle would do 
him the favour to leave the ground. " Why, Patrick," said 
the old gentleman, with a good-natured smile, " as to your 
saying hard things of the clergy, I advise you to let that 
alone : take my word for it, you will do yourself more harm 
than you will them ; and as to my leaving the ground, I 
fear, my hoy, that my presence could neither do you harm 
nor good in such a cause. However, since you seem to 
think otherwise, and desire it of me so earnestly, you shall 
be gratified." Whereupon, he entered his carriage again, and 
returned home. 

Soon after the opening of the court, the cause was called. 
It stood on a writ of inquiry of damages, no plea having been 
entered by the defendants since the judgment on the demur- 
rer. The array before Mr. Henary's eyes was now most fear- 
ful. On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the 
most learned men in the colony, and the most capable, as 
well as the severest, critics before whom it was possible for 
him to have made his,. debut. The court-house was crowded 
with an overwhelming multitude, and surrounded with an 
immense and anxious throng, who, not finding room to enter, 



PATRICK HENRY. 43 

were endeavouring to listen without, in the deepest attention- 
But there was something still more awfully disconcerting 
than all this ; for in the chair of the presiding magistrate 
sat no other person than his own father. Mr^Lyons opened 
the cause very briefly : in the way of argument he did no- 
thing more than explain to the jury, that the decision upon 
the demurrer had put the act of 1758 entirely out of the way, 
_andj,eft the law of 1748 as the only standard of their dama- 
ges ; he then concluded with a highly -wrought eulogium 
on the benevolence of the clergy. And now came on the 
first trial of Patrick Henry's strength. No one had ever 
heard him speak, and curiosity was on tiptoe. He rose very 
awkwardly, and faltered much in his exordium. The peo- 
ple hung their heads at so unpromising a commencement; 
the clergy were observed to exchange sly looks with each 
other; and his father is described as having almost sunk 
with confusion from his seat. But these feelings were of 
short duration, and soon gave place to others, of a very dif- 
ferent character. For now were those wonderful faculties 
which he possessed, for the first time, developed ; and now 
was first witnessed that mysterious and almost supernatural 
transformation of appearance, which the fire of his own elo- 
quence never failed to work in him. For as his mind rolled 
along, and began to glow from its own action, all the exuvicR 
of the clown seemed to shed themselves spontaneously. His 
attitude, by degrees, became erect and lofty. The spirit of 
his genius awakened all his features. His countenance 
shone with a nobleness and grandeur which it had never 
before exhibited. There was a lightning in his eyes which 
seemed to rive the spectator. His action became graceful, 
bold, and commanding ; and in the tones of his voice, but 



44 AVIRT S LIFE OF 

more especially in his emphasis, there was a peculiar charm, 
a magic, of which any one who ever heard him will speak 
as soon as he is named, but of which no one can give any 
adequate description. They can only say that it struck 
upon the ear and upon the heart, in a manner ivhich lan- 
guage cannot tell. Add to all these, his wonder-working 
fancy, and the peculiar phraseology in which he clothed its 
images ; for he painted to the heart with a force that almost 
petrified it. In the language of those who heard him on this 
occasion, " he made their blood run cold, and their hair to 
rise on end." 

It will not be difficult for any one who ever heard this 
most extraordinary man, to believe the whole account of this 
transaction, which is given by his surviving hearers ; and 
from their account, the court-house of Hanover county nmst 
have exhibited, on this occasion, a scene as picturesque, as 
has-been ever witnessed in real life. They- saj - that ihe 
people, whose countenance had fallen as he arose, had heard 
but a very few sentences before they began to look up ; then 
to look at each other with surprise, as if doubting the evi- 
dence of their own senses; then, attracted by some strong 
gesture, struck by some majestic attitude, fascinated by the 
spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, and the varied 
and commanding expression of his countenance, they could 
look away no more. In less than twenty minutes, they 
might be seen in every part of the house, on every bench, in 
every window, stooping forward from their stands, in death- 
like silence ; their features fixed in amazement and awe ; 
all their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker, as if 
to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant. The 
mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm ; their 



PATRICK HENRY. 45 

iriumph into confusion and despair; and at one burst of his 
rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled from the bench 
in precipitation and terror. As for the father, such was his 
surprise, such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forget- 
ting where he was, and the character which he was filling, 
tears of ecstasy streamed down his cheeks, without the power 
or inclination to repress them. 

The jury seem to have been so completely bewildered, 
that they lost sight, not only of the act of 1748, but that of 
1758 also; for thoughtless even of the admitted right of the 
plaintiff, they had scarcely left the bar, when they returned 
with a verdict of one 'penny damages. A motion was made 
for a new trial ; but the court, too, had now lost the equipoise 
of their judgment, and overruled the motion by a unani- 
mous vote. The verdict and judgment overruling the mo- 
tion, were followed by redoubled acclamations, from within 
and without the house. The people, who had with diffi- 
-cttlty kept their hands off their champion, from the moment 
of closing his harangue, no sooner saw the fate of the cause 
finally sealed, than they seized him at the bar, and in spite 
of his own exertions, and the continued cry of " order" from 
the sheriffs and the court, they bore him out of the court- 
house, and raising him on their shoulders, carried him about 
^ the yard, in a kind of electioneering triuTfiph. 

O ! what a scene was this for a father's heart ! so sudden ; 
so unlocked for ; so delightfully overwhelming ! ^kX the time, 
he was not able to give utterance to any sentiment ; but, a 
few days after, when speaking of it to Mr. Winston,* he said, 
with the most engaging modesty, and with a tremour of 
voice, which showed how much more he felt than he express- 

* The present Judge Winston. 



46 WIRT S LIFE OF 

ed, " Patrick spoke in this cause near an hour ! and m 
a manner that surprised me ! and showed himself well-in- 
formed on a subject, of which I did not think he had any 
knowledge !" 

I have tried much to procure a sketch of this celebrated 
speech. But those of Mr. Henry's hearers who survive, seem 
to have been bereft of their senses. They can only tell you, 
in general, that they were taken captive ; and so delighted 
with their captivity, that they followed implicitly, whitherso- 
ever he led them : that, at his bidding, their tears flowed 
from pity, and their cheeks flushed with indignation : that 
when it was over, they felt as if they had just awaked from 
some ecstatic dream, of which they were unable to recall or 
connect the particulars. It was such a speech as they be- 
lieve had never before fallen from the lips of man ; and to 
this day, the old people of that county cannot conceive that 
a higher compliment can be paid to a speaker, than to say 
of him, in their own homely phrase : — " He is almost equal 
to Patrick, when he plead against the parsons. ^^ 

The only topic of this speech of which any authentic ac- 
count remains, is the order of the king in council, whereby 
the act of 1758 had been declared void. This subject had 
in truth been disposed of by the demurrer; and, in strictness 
of proceeding, neither Mr. Henry nor the jury had any thing 
to do with it. The laxity of the county-court practice, how- 
ever, indulged him in the widest career he chose to take, 
and he laid hold of this point, neither with a feeble nor hesi- 
tating hand ; but boldly and vigorously pressed it upon the 
jury, and that, too, with very powerful effect. He insisted 
on the connexion and reciprocal duties between the king and 
his subjects ; maintained that government was a conditional 



PATRICK HENRY. 47 

compact, composed of mutual and dependent covenants, of 
which a violation by one party discharged the other; and 
intrepidly contended that the disregard which had been 
shown, in this particular, to the pressing wants of the colony, 
was an instance of royal misrule, which had thus far dis- 
solved the pohtical compact, and left the people at liberty to 
consult their own safety ; that they had consulted it by the 
act of 1758, which, therefore, notwithstanding the dissent of 
the king and his council, ought to be considered as tlie law 
of the land, and the only legitimate measure of the claims 
of the clergy. 

The nature of this topic, and the earnest and undaunted 
manner in which Mr. Henry is said to have pursued and 
maintained it, proves that even at this period, which has 
been marked as the era of our greatest attachment and de- 
votion to the parent country, his mind, at least, was disposed 
to pry into the course of the regal administration, and to 
speak forth his sentiments without any fear of the conse- 
quences. The reception which the people gave to the argu- 
ment, proves that they also had no superstitious repugnance 
to the consideration of such topics, nor any very insuperable 
liorror at the idea of a separation. Not that there is ground 
to suspect that any one had, at this time, realized such an 
event, or even contemplated it as desirable. The suggestion, 
therefore, which I have sometimes heard, that Mr. Henry was 
already meditating the independence of the colonies, and 
sowing the seeds of those reflections which he wished to 
ripen into revolt, is, in my opinion, rather curious than just. 
I believe that he thought of nothing beyond success in his 
cause ; and since the desperate posture in which he found it 
demanded a daiing and eccentric course, he adopted that 



48 WIRT'SLIFEOF 

which has been already stated. The character of his argu- 
ment proves, indeed, tliat he was naturally a bold and in- 
trepid inquirer, who was not to be overawed from his pur- 
pose by the name even of sovereignty itself; and of course 
that he was made of good revolutionary materials. But an 
adequate provocation had not at this time been given : and 
it would be imputing to Mr. Henry a criminal ambition, of 
which there is no proof, to suppose that he was meditating 
the subversion of a government, against which the voice of 
serious complaint had not yet been heard. Besides, Mr 
Henry's standing in society was at this period so humble, as 
to have rendered the meditation of such a purpose, on his 
part, presumptuous in the extreme ; and equally inconsistent 
both with his unassuming modesty, and that natural good 
sense and accurate judgment which are, on all hands, as- 
signed to him. 

Immediately on the decision of this cause, he was retained 
in all the cases, within the range of his practice, which de- 
pended on the same question. But no other case was ever 
brought to trial. They were, all throughout the colony, dis- 
missed by the plaintiffs ; nor was any appeal ever prosecuted 
in the case of Mr. Maury. The reason assigned for this by 
Mr. Camm is, that the legislature had voted money to sup- 
port the appeal on the part of the defendants, and that the 
clergy were not rich enough to contend against the whole 
wealth and strength of the colony.* 

The clergy took their revenge in an angry pamphlet from 
the pen of Mr. Camm, in which a very contemptuous account 

* Mr. Camm is right as to the interference of the legislature. 1 
have not been able, however, to find any resolution of the legislature 
to this effect, earlier than the 7th of April, 1767 : whereas Mr. Maury's 



PATRICK HENRY. 49 

is given both of the advocate and the court. Mr. Henry is 
stigmatized in it as an obscure attorney : and the epithet was 
true enough as to the time past, but it was now true no 
longer. His sun had risen with a splendour which had never 
before been witnessed in this colony ; and never afterward 
did it disgrace this glorious rising. 

case was decided in Hanover, on the 1st December, 1763. The fol- 
lowing is extracted from the journal of the day first mentioned : — 

" On a motion made — 

" Resolved, that the committee of correspondence be directed to 
write \o the agent, to defend the parish collectors from all appeals 
from judgments here given, in suits brought by the clergy, for recov- 
ering fheir salaries, payable on or before the last day of May, 1759; 
and tiiEt this house will engage to defray the expense thereof" 

G 5 



SECTION II. 

It is almost unnecessary to state, that tl?e display which 
Mr. Henry had made in " the parsons' cause,^^ as it was 
popularly called, placed him at once at the head of his pro- 
fession, in that quarter of the colony in which he practised. 
He became the theme of every tongue. He had exhibited 
a degree of eloquence, which the people had never before 
witnessed ; a species of eloquence, too, entirely new at the 
bar, and altogether his own. He had formed it on no living 
model, for there was none such in the country. He had not 
copied it from books, for they had described nothing of the 
kind ; or if they had, he was a stranger to their contents. 
Nor had he formed it himself, by solitary study and exercise ; 
for he was far too indolent for any such process. It was so 
unexampled, so unexpected, so instantaneous, and so trans- 
cendent in its character, that it had, to the people, very 
much the appearance of supernatural inspiration. He was 
styled " the orator of nature ;" and was, on that account, 
much more revered by the people than if he had been formed 
by the severest discipline of the schools ; for they considered 
him as bringing his credentials directly from heaven, and 
owing no part of his greatness to human institutions. 

There were other considerations, also, which drew him 
still more closely to the bosom of the people. The society of 
Virgmia was at that time pretty strongly discriminated. A 
gentleman who lived in those days, and who had the best 



PATRICK HENRY. 51 

opportunities of judging on the subject, has furnished the 
following interesting picture of it : — 

"To state the differences between the classes of society, 
and the lines of demarcation which separated them, would 
be difficult. The law, you know, admitted none, except as 
to the twelve counsellors. Yet, in a country insulated 
from the European world, insulated from its sister colonies, 
with whom there was scarcely any intercourse, little visited 
by foreigners, and having little matter to act upon within 
itself, certain families had risen to splendour by wealth, and 
by the preservation of it from generation to generation, under 
the law of entails ; some had produced a series of men of 
talents ; families in general had remained stationary on the 
grounds of their forefathers, for there was no emigration to 
the westward in those days ; the Irish, who had gotten pos 
session of the valley between the Blue Ridge and the North 
Mountain, formed a barrier over which none ventured to 
leap ; and their manners presented no attraction to the low- 
landers to settle among them. In such a state of things, 
scarcely admitting any change of station, society would set- 
tle itself down into several strata, separated by no marked 
lines, but shading off imperceptibly from top to bottom, no- 
thing disturbing the order of their repose. There were, then, 
first, aristocrats, composed of the great landholders, who had 
seated themselves below tidewater on the main rivers, and 
lived in a style of luxury and extravagance insupportable by 
the other inhabitants, and which, indeed, ended in seve- 
ral instances in the ruin of their own fortunes. Next to 
these were what might be called haJf-breeds ; the descend- 
ants of the younger sons and daughters of the aristocrats, 
who inherited the pride of their ancestors, without their 
wealth. Then came the pretenders, men, who, from vanity 



62 WIRT S LIFE OP 

or the impulse of growing wealth, or from that enterprise 
which is natural to talents, sought to detach themselves from 
the plebeian ranks, to which they properly belonged, and imi- 
tated, at some distance, the manners and habits of the great. 
Next to these, were a solid and independent yeomanry, 
looking askance at those above, yet not venturing to jostle 
them. And last and lowest, a feculum of beings, called 
overseers, the most abject, degraded, unprincipled race ; al- 
ways cap in hand to the dons who employed them, and fur- 
nishing materials for the exercise of their pride, insolence, 
and spirit of domination." 

It was from the body of the yeomanry, whom my corres- 
pondent represents as " looking askance" at those above 
them, that Mr. Henry proceeded. He belonged to the body 
of the people. His birth, education, fortune, and manners, 
made him one of themselves. They regarded him, there- 
fore, as their own property, and sent to them expressly for 
the very purpose of humbling the pride of the mighty, and 
exalting the honour of his own class. 

Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to see this advan- 
tage, and too much good sense not to keep and to improve it. 
He seems to have formed to himself, very early in life, just 
views of society, and to have acted upon them with the most 
laudable system and perseverance. He regarded government 
as instituted solely for the good of the people ; and not for 
the benefit of those who had contrived to make a job of it. 
He looked upon the body of the people, therefore, as the ba- 
sis of society, the fountain of all power, and, directly or indi- 
rectly, of all offices and honours, which had been instituted 
originally for their use. He made it no secret, therefore ; nay, 
he made it his boast, that on every occasion, *' he bowed to 
the majesty of the people." With regard to himself, he saw 



PATRICK HENRY. 63 

very distinctly, that all his hopes rested on the people's fa- 
vour. He therefore adhered to them with unshaken fidelity. 
He retained their manners, their customs, all their modes 
of life, with religious caution. He dressed as plainly as 
the plainest of them ; ate only the homely fare, and drank 
the simple beverage of the country ; mixed with them on 
a footing of the most entire and perfect equality, and con- 
versed with them, even in their own vicious and depraved 
pronunciation.* 

If this last were the effect of artful compliance, as has 
been strenuously afiirmed, it was certainly carrying the sys- 
tem farther than dignity would warrant. Mr. Henry should 
have been the instructer as well as the friend of the people, 
and, by his example, have corrected instead of adopting their 
errors. It is very certain, that by this course he disgusted 
many of those whom it was often his business to persuade ; 
not because they considered it as a proof of vulgarity and 
ignorance, but because they regarded it as a premeditated 
artifice to catch the favour and affections of the people. That 
it was so, I am not disposed to believe. I think it m.uch 
more probable, that those errors of pronunciation were the 
effect of early and inveterate habit, which had become incu- 
rable before he was informed of his mistake. He had no 
occasion to resort to such petty artifices, either to gain or to 
hold the affections of the people. He held them by a much 

* Governor Page relates, that he once heard him express the fol- 
lowing sentiments, in this vicious pronunciation : — " Naiteral parts 
is better than all the larnin upon y earth;" but the accuracy of Mr. 
Page's memory is questioned in this particular, by the acquaintances 
of Mr. Henry, who say, that he was too good a grammarian to liave 
uttered such a sentence, although they admit the inaccuracy of his 
pronunciation, in some ol the words imputed to him. 

5* 



54 WIRT S LIFE OF 

higher and a much fii-mer title : the simpUcity of his man- 
ners ; the benevolence of his disposition ; the integrity of 
his life ; his real devotion to their best interests ; that uncom- 
mon sagacity, which enabled him to discern those interests 
in every situation ; and the unshaken constancy vi^ith which 
he pursued them, in spite of every difficulty and danger that 
could threaten him. From the point of time, of which we 
are now speaking, it is very certain that he suffered no gale 
of fortune, however high or prosperous, to separate him 
from the people : nor did the people, on their part, ever de- 
sert him. He was the man to whom they looked in every 
crisis of difficulty, and the favourite on whom they were 
ever ready to lavish all the honours in their gift. 

Middleton, in his life of Cicero, tells us, that the first great 
speech of that orator, his defence of Roscius of Ameria, was 
made at the age of twenty-seven ; the same age, he adds, 
at which the learned have remarked, that Demosthenes dis- 
tinguished himself in the assembly of the Athenians : — " as 
if this were the age," I quote his own words, " at which 
these great genios regularly bloomed toward maturity." It 
is rather curious, than important, to observe, that Mr. Henry 
fmnishes another instance in support of this theory ; since it 
was precisely in the same year of his life, that his talents 
first became known to himself and to the world. Nor let 
the admirer of antiquity revolt at our coupling the name of 
Henry with those of Cicero and Demosthenes : it can be no 
degradation to the orator either of Greece or Rome, that his 
name stands enrolled on the same page with that of a man 
of whom such a judge of eloquence as Mr. Jefferson has 
said, that " he was the greatest orator that ever livedo 

But the taste of professional fame which Mr. Henry had 
derived from the " parsons' cause," exquisite as it must have 



PATRICK HENRY. 56 

been, was not sufficient to inspire him with a thirst for the 
learning of his profession. He had an insuperable aversion 
to the old black-letter of the law-books, (which was often 
a topic of raillery with him,) and he was never able to con- 
quer it, except for preparation in some particular cause. No 
love of distinction, no necessity, however severe, were strong 
enough to bind him down to a regular course of reading. 
He could not brook the confinement. The reasoning of the 
law was too artificial, and too much cramped for him. 
While unavoidably engaged in it, he felt as if manacled. 
His mind was perpetually struggling to break away. His 
genius delighted in liberty and space, in which it might 
roam at large, and feast on every variety of intellectual en- 
joyment. Hence, he was never profound in the learning of 
the law. On a question merely legal, his inferiors, in point 
of talents, frequently embarrassed and foiled him ; and it 
required all the resources of his extraordinary mind to sup- 
port the distinction which he had now gained. 

The most successful practice in the county courts was, in 
those days, but a slender dependance for a family. Notwith- 
standing, therefore, the great addition to his business, which 
we have noticed, Mr. Henry seems still to have been pressed 
by want. With the hope of improving his situation, he re- 
moved, in the year 1764, to the county of Louisa, and re- 
sided at a place called the Roundabout. Here I have learned 
nothing remarkable of him, unless it may be thought so, 
that he pursued his favourite amusement of hunting with 
increased ardour. " After his removal to Louisa," says my 
informant, " he has been known to hunt deer, frequently 
for several days together, carrying his provision with him, 
and at night encamping in the woods. After the hunt was 
over, he would go from the ground to Louisa court, clad in 



56 wirt'slifeof 

a coarse cloth coat, stained with all the trophies of the chase, 
greasy leather breeches, ornamented in the same way, leg- 
gings for boots, and a pair of saddlebags on his arm. Thus 
accoutred, he would enter the court-house, take up the first 
of his causes that chanced to be called ; and if there was 
any scope for his peculiar talent, throw his adversary into 
the background, and astonish both court and jury, by the 
powerful effusions of his natural eloquence. 

There must have been something irresistibly captivating 
in Mr. Henry's mode of speaking, even on the most trivial 
subjects. The late Judge Lyons has been heard to say of 
himself, while practising with Mr. Henry, that " he could 
write a letter, or draw a declaration or plea at the bar, with 
as much accuracy, as he could in his office, under all circum- 
stances, except when Patrick rose to speak ; but that when- 
ever he rose, although it might be on so trifling a subject as 
a summons and petition for twenty shillings, he was obliged 
to lay down his pen, and could not write another word, until 
the speech was finished." Such was the charm of his 
voice and manner, and the interesting originality of his 
conceptions ! 

In the fall of 1764, Mr. Henry had an opportunity of ex- 
hibiting himself on a new theatre. A contest occurred in 
the house of burgesses, in the case of Mr. James Littlepage, 
the returned member for the county of Hanover. The rival 
candidate and petitioner was Nathaniel West Dandridge.* 
The charge against Mr. Littlepage was bribery and corrup- 

* Here is another mistake of Mr. Burk's. He states the contest to 
have been between Col. Syme (Mr. Henry's half-brother) and Col. 
Richard Littlepage. The journal contradicts him, and supports the 
text. There was no such contest as that of which he speaks ; at least, 
between the years 1762 and 1768. 



PATRICK HENRY. 57 

tion. The parties were heard by their counsel, before the 
committee of privileges and elections, and Mr. Henry was 
on this occasion employed by Mr. Dandridge. 

Williamsburg, then the seat of government, was the fo- 
cus of fashion and high life. The residence of the gov- 
ernor, (the immediate representative of the sovereign,) the 
royal state in which he lived, the polite and brilliant circle 
which he always had about him, diffused their influence 
through the city and the circumjacent country, and filled Wil- 
liamsburg with a degree of emulation, taste, and elegance, 
of which we can form no conception by the appearances of 
the present day. During the session of the house of bur- 
gesses, too, these stately modes of life assumed their richest 
forms ; the town was filled with a concourse of visiters, as 
well as citizens, attired in their gayest colours ; the streets 
exhibited a continual scene of animated and glittering tu- 
mult ; the houses, of costly profusion. 

Such was the scene in which Mr. Henry was. now called 
upon, for the first time, to make his appearance. He made 
no preparation for it, but went down just in the kind of garb 
which he had been accustomed to exhibit all his life, and is 
said to have worn on this occasion particularly, a suit which 
had suffered very considerably in the service. The contrast 
which he exhibited with the general elegance of the place, 
was so striking, as to call upon him the eyes of all the curi- 
ous and the mischievous ; and, as he moved awkwardly 
about, in his coarse and threadbare dress, with a counte- 
nance of abstraction and total unconcern as to what was 
passing around him, (interesting as it seemed to every one 
else,) he was stared at by some as a prodigy, and regarded 
by others as an unfortunate being, whose senses were disor- 
dered. When he went to attend the committee of privileges 
H 



58 WIRTSLIFEOF 

and elections, the matter was still worse. " The proud airs 
of aristocracy," says Judge Tyler, detailing this incident of 
Mr. Henry's life, " added to the dignified forms of that truly 
august bod)^, were enough to have deterred any man posses- 
sing less firmness and independence of spirit than Mr. 
Henry. He was ushered with great state and ceremony 
into the room of the committee, whose chairman was Col. 
Bland.* Mr. Henry was dressed in very coarse apparel ; no 
one knew any thing of him ; t and scarcely was he treated 
Avilh decent respect by any one except the chairman, who 
could not do so much violence to his feelings and principles, 
as to depart, on any occasion, from the delicacy of the gen- 
tleman. But the general contempt was soon changed into 
as general admiration ; for Mr. Henry distinguished himself 
by a copious and brilliant display on the great subject of the 
rights of suffrage, superior to any thing that had been heard 
before within those walls. Such a burst of eloquence, from 
a man so veiy plain and ordinary in his appearance, struck 

* Mr. Tyler says, " that enlightened and amiable man, John Blair;" 
but in this he is corrected by the journal, which shows that Mr. Bland 
was the chairman of the committee of privileges and elections for that 
year. I should have thought, from the general accuracy of Mr. Ty- 
ler's statement, that Mr. Blair might have been officiating as chair- 
man pj-o tempore, in the absence of Col. Bland ; but that Mr. Blair 
does not appear, by the journal, to nave belonged to the committee, 
or even to have been a member of the house in 1764. His name does 
not appear till 1766. 

Mr. Tyler, reciting Mr. Henry's own narrative, after a lapse of 
several years, might very easily have confounded two names as sim- 
ilar as those of Bland and Blair. 

t That is, I presume, of his person ; for after the very splendid ex- 
hibition which he made in the parsons' cause, his name could not 
have been wholly unknown: the text, hoAvever, gives the words of 
my correspondent faithfully. 



PATRICK HENRY. 59 

the committee with amazement ; so that a deep and perfect 
silence took place during the speech, and not a sound but 
from his lips was to be heard in the room." So far, Judge 
Tyler. Judge Winston, relating the same incident, says : 
" Some time after, a member of the house, speaking to me 
of this occurrence, said, he had, for a day or two, observed 
an ill-dressed yovmg man sauntering in the lobby ; that he 
seemed to be a stranger to every body, and he had not the 
curiosity to inquire his name ; but that, attending when 
the case of the contested election came on, he was surprised 
to find this same person counsel for one of the parties ; and 
still more so, when he delivered an argument superior to any 
thing he had ever heard." The case, according to the report 
of the committee of privileges and elections, is not one which 
seems to present much scope for a very interesting discussion ; 
but Mr. Henry's was one of those minds which impart inter- 
est to every subject they touch. 

The same year, 1764, is memorable for the origination of 
that great question which led finally to the independence of 
the United States. It has been said by a gentleman, at 
least as well qualified to judge as any other now alive,* that 
" Mr. Henry certainly gave the first impulse to the ball of the 
revolution." In order to show the correctness of this position, 
it is proper to ascertain the precise point to which the contro- 
versy with Great Britain had advanced, when Mr. Henry 
first presented himself in the character of a statesman. 

In March, 1764, the British parliament had passed reso- 
lutions, preparatory to the levying a revenue on the colonies 
by a stamp tax. These resolutions were communicated to 
the house of burgesses of Virginia, through their committee 

* Mr. JefTerson. 



60 WIRT'S LIFE OF 

of correspondence, by the colonial agent ; and having been 
maturely considered, resulted in the appointment of a spe- 
cial committee to prepare an address to the king, a memo- 
rial to the lords, and a remonstrance to the house of com- 
mons. On the 18th of December, 1764, these papers were 
reported, and (after various amendments, which considerably 
diluted their spirit) received the concurrence of the coun- 
cil. The reader will perceive, on perusing them,* that, 
while they affirm, in clear and strong terms, the constitu- 
tional exemption of the colony from taxation by the British 
parliament, they breathe, nevertheless, a tone so suppliant, 
and exhibit such a picture of anticipated suffering from the 
pressure of the tax on the exhausted resources of the colon^r, 
as to indicate that no opposition beyond remonstrance was, 
at this time, meditated. Remonstrance, however, was vain. 
In January, 1765, the famous stamp act was passed, to take 
effect in the colonies on the first of November following. The 
annunciation of this measure seems at first to have stunned 
the continent from one extremity to the other. The presses, 
which spread the intelligence among the people, were them- 
selves manifestly confounded ; and so far from inspiring the 
energy of resistance, they seemed rather disposed to have 
looked out for topics of consolation, under submission.! The 
truth is, that all ranks of society were confounded. No 
one knew what to hope, what more to fear, or what course 

* See Appendix. Note A. 

t Thus in the Pennsylvania Gazette of the 30th of May, 1765:— 
" We hear the sums of money arising from the new stamp duties in 
North America, for the first five years, are chiefly to be appUed toward 
making commodious post-roads from one province to another, erect- 
ing bridges where necessary, and other measures equally important 
to facilitate an extensive trade." 



PATRICK HENRY. 61 

was best to be taken. Some, indeed, were fond enough to 
entertain hopes that the united remonstrances of the colonial 
legislatures, the fate of which had not yet been heard, might 
induce the mother-country to change her policy ; these hopes, 
however, were faint ; and few there were that entertained 
them. Many considered submission, in the present state of 
the colonies, as unavoidable ; and that this was the opinion 
of Doctor Franklin himself, is apparent from the remark 
with which he took leave of Mr. Ingersoll, on his departure 
for America.* The idea of resistance, by force, was no where 
glanced at in the most distant maimer ; no heart seems to 
have been bold enough, at first, to conceive it. Men, on other 
occasions marked for intrepidity and decision, now hung 
back, unwilling to submit, and yet afraid to speak out in 
the language of bold and open defiance. It was just at this 
moment of despondency in some quarters, suspense in others, 
and surly and reluctant submission wherever submission ap- 
peared, that Patrick Henry stood forth to raise the drooping 
spirit of the people, and to unite all hearts and hands in the 
cause of his country. With the view of making way for 
him, and placing him in the public councils of his country, 
Mr. William Johnson, who had been elected a member of 
the house of burgesses for the county of Louisa, vacated his 
seat by accepting the commission of coroner. The writ of 
election to supply his place was awarded on the first of May, 
1765, and on the 20th day of that month, it appears by the 
journals, that Mr. Henry was added to the committee for 
courts of justice. 

Here, again, he was upon a new theatre, and personally 
\mknown, except to those few who might have heard his 

* " Go home, and tell your countrymen to get children as fast as 
they can." — Gordon. 

6 



62 WIRT S LIFE OF 

argument on the contested election of Mr. Litllepage, the 
preceding winter. His dress and manners were still those 
of the plain planter, and, in his personal appearance, there 
was nothing to excite curiosity, or awaken expectation. 
The forms of the house, of which he was now for the 
first time a member, were, as has been stated, most aw- 
fully dignified ; its active members were composed of the 
landed aristocracy and their adherents ; and amongst them 
were men to whose superiority of talents, as well as influence 
and power, the yeomanry of the country had long been ac- 
customed to bow with tacit and submissive deference. 

John Robinson, the speaker of the house, was one of the 
most opulent men in the colony, and the acknowledged head 
of its landed aristocracy. He had now filled the chair of the 
house with great dignity, and without interruption, for five 
and twenty years. He was, also, the colonial treasiurer ; 
and from the high offices which he held, in connexion with 
the regal government, was as warmly attached to its author- 
ity by interest, as he was by taste and fashion to all the 
grandeur of its forms. But, notwithstanding this close alli- 
ance with the court, his personal influence, in every class of 
society, was very great; and he held that influence by a 
tenure far superior to any that his own vast wealth or the 
power of the crown could confer. For he possessed a strong 
and well-informed mind, enlarged and corrected by great 
experience, and he united with it a benevolence of spirit 
and a courtesy of manners which never failed to attach 
every heart that approached him. The poor drew near to 
him without awe or embarrassment; they came, indeed, with 
filial confidence ; for they never failed to find in him a sym- 
pathetic friend and an able counsellor. The rich enjoyed 
in him an easy, enlightened, and instructive companion ; 



PATRICK HENRY. 63 

and, next to the governor, regarded him as the highest mod- 
el of elegance and fashion. An anecdote is related of this 
gentleman, which displays in a strong and amiable light, 
the exalted force of his feelings, and the truly noble cast of 
his manners. When Col. Washington (the immortal saviour 
of his country) had closed his career in the French and In- 
dian war, and had become a member of the house of bur- 
gesses, the speaker, Robinson, was directed, by a vote of the 
house, to return their thanks to that gentleman, on behalf 
of the colony, for the distinguished military services which 
he had rendered to his country. As soon as Col. Washing- 
ton took his seat, Mr. Robinson, in obedience to this order, 
and following the impulse of his own generous and grateful 
heart, discharged the duty with great dignity ; but with 
such warmth of colouring and strength of expression, as en- 
tirely confounded the young hero. He rose to express his 
acknowledgments for the honour ; but such was his trepida- 
tion and confusion, that he could not give distinct utterance 
to a single syllable. He blushed, stammered, and trembled, 
for a second ; when the speaker relieved him by a stroke of 
address that would have done honour to Louis XIV. in 
his proudest and happiest moment. " Sit down, Mr. Wash- 
ington," said he, with a conciliating smile ; " your modesty 
is equal to your valour ; and that surpasses the power of any 
language that I possess."* 

Peyton Randolph, the king's attorney-general, held the 
next rank to the speaker. He was not distinguished for elo- 
quence ; but he derived great weight from the solid powers 
of his understanding, and the no less solid virtues of his 
heart. He was well acquainted with all the forms of parlia- 

* On the authority of Edmund Randolph. 



64 WIRT S LIFE OF 

mentary proceeding ; was an eminent lawyer, and a well- 
informed and practical statesman. 

Richard Bland was one of the most enlightened men in 
the colony. He was a man of finished education, and of the 
most mibending habits of application. His perfect mastery 
of every fact connected with the settlement and progress of 
the colony, had given him the name of the Virginian Anti- 
quary.* He was a politician of the first class ; a profound 
logician, and was also considered as the first writer in the 
colony.f 

Edmund Pendleton, the protege of the speaker Robin- 
son, was also among the most prominent members in the 
house. He had, in a great measure, overcome the disadvan- 
tages of an extremely defective education, and, by the force 
of good company and the study of correct authors, had attain- 
ed to great accuracy and perspicuity of style. The patronage 
of the speaker had introduced him to the first circles, and his 

* Edmund Randolph. 

t "He was," says a correspondent, "the most learned and logical 
man of those who took a prominent lead in public affairs ; profound 
in constitutional lore ; but a most ungraceful speaker in debate. He 
wrote the first pamphlet on the nature of the connexion with Great 
Britain, which had any pretensions to accuracy of view on that subject ; 
but it was a singular one : he would set out on sound principles, pur- 
sue them logically, till he found them leading to the precipice which 
we had to leap ; start back, alarmed ; then resume his gi-ound, go over 
it in another direction, be led again, by the correctness of his reason- 
ing, to the same place, and again tack about and try other processes to 
reconcile right and wrong ; but left his reader and himself bewildered 
between the steady index of the compass in their hand, and the phan- 
tasm to which it seemed to point. Still, there was more sound matter 
in this pamphlet than in the celebrated Farmer's Letters, which were 
really but an ignis fatuus, misleading us from true principle." 



PATRICK HENRY. 65 

manners were elevated, graceful, and insinuating. His per- 
son was spare, but well-proportioned ; and his countenance 
one of the finest in the world ; serene — contemplative — be- 
nignant — with that expression of unclouded intelhgence and 
extensive research, which seemed to denote him capable of any 
thing that could be effected by the power of the human 
mind. His mind itself was of a very fine order. It was 
clear, comprehensive, sagacious and correct ; with a most 
acute and subtile faculty of discrimination ; a fertility of ex- 
pedient which could never be exhausted ; a dexterity of ad- 
dress which never lost an advantage and never gave one ; 
and a capacity for continued and unremitting application, 
which was perfectly invincible. As a lawyer and a states- 
man, he had few equals ; no superiors. For parliamentary 
management, he was without a rival. With all these ad- 
vantages of person, manners, address, and intellect, he was 
also a speaker of distinguished eminence. He had that sil- 
ver voice* of which Cicero makes such frequent and honour- 
able mention — an articulation uncommonly distinct. — a peren- 
nial stream of transparent, cool, and sweet elocution ; and 
the power of presenting his arguments with great simplicity 
and striking effect. He was always graceful, argumentative, 
persuasive ; never vehement, rapid, or abrupt. He could 
instruct and delight ; but he had no pretensions to those high 
powers which are calculated to " shake the human soul." 

George Wythe, also a member of the House, was confes- 
sedly among the first in point of abilities. There is a story 
circulated, as upon his own authority, that he was initiated 
by his mother in the Latin classics.! Be this as it may, it is 

* Vox argentea. See the Brutus, passim. 

1 1 heard it from the late Judge Nelson, his relation. 
I 6* 



66 WIRTSLIFEOF 

certain that he had raised upon the original foundation, 
whencesoever acquired, a superstructure of ancient hterature 
which has been rarely equalled in this country. He was 
perfectly familiar with the authors of Greece and Rome ; 
read them with the same ease, and quoted them with the 
same promptitude that he could the authors in his native 
tongue. He carried his love of antiquity rather too far ', for 
he frequently sul)jected himself to the charge of pedantry ; 
and his admiration of the gigantic writers of Queen Eliza- 
beth's reign, had unfortunately betrayed him into an imita- 
tion of their quaintness. Yet, with all this singularity of taste, 
he was a man of great capacity ; powerful in argument ; 
frequently pathetic ; and elegantly keen and sarcastic in re- 
partee. He was long the rival of Mr. Pendleton at the bar, 
whom he equalled as a common lawyer, and greatly sur- 
passed as a civilian : but he was too open and direct in his 
conduct, and possessed too little management, either with re- 
gard to his OAvn temper or those of other men, to cope with 
so cool and skilful an adversary. Though a full match for 
Mr. Pendleton in the powers of fair and solid reasoning, Mr. 
Pendleton could, whenever he pleased, and would, whenever 
it was necessary, tease him with quibbles, and vex him with 
sophistries, until he destroyed the composure of his mind, and 
robbed him of his strength. No man was ever more entirely 
destitute of art than Mr. Wythe. He knew nothing, even in 
his profession, and never would know any thing of " crooked 
and indirect by-ways." Whatever he had to do, was to be 
done openly, avowedly, and above-board. He would not, 
even at the bar, have accepted of success on any other terms. 
This simplicity and integrity of character, although it some- 
times exposed him to the arts and sneers of the less scrupu- 
lous, placed him before his countrymen on the ground which 



PATRICK HENRY. G7 

Cesar wished his wife to occupy ; he was not only pure, but 
above all suspicion. The unaffected sanctity of his princi- 
ples, united with his modesty and simple elegance of man- 
ners, his attic wit, his stores of rare knowledge, his capacity 
for business, and the real power of his intellect, not only 
raised him to great eminence in public, but rendered him a 
delightful companion, and a most valuable friend. 

But Richard Henry Lee was the Cicero of the house. His 
face itself was on the Roman model ; his nose Cesarean ; 
the port and carriage of his head, leaning persuasively and 
gracefully forward ; and the whole contour noble and fine. 
Mr. Lee was, by far, the most elegant scholar in the house. 
He had studied the classics in the true spirit of criticism. His 
taste had that delicate touch, which seized with intuitive cer- 
tainty every beauty of an author, and his genius that native 
affinity which combined them without an effort. Lito every 
walk of literature and science, he had carried this mind of 
exquisite selection, and brought it back to the business of life, 
crowned with every light of learning, and decked with every 
wreath, that all the muses and all the graces could entwine. 
Nor did those light decorations constitute the whole value of 
its freight. He possessed a rich store of historical and political 
knowledge, with an activity of observation, and a certainty 
of judgment, that turned that knowledge to the very best 
account. He was not a lawyer by profession ; but he un- 
derstood thoroughly the constitution both of the mother-coun- 
try and her colonies ; and the elements also of the civil 
and municipal law. Thus, while his eloquence was free 
from those stiff and technical restraints which the habits of 
forensic speaking are so apt to generate, he had all the legal 
learning which is necessary to a statesman. He reasoned 
well, and declaimed freely and splendidly. The note of his 



68 WIRT's LIFE OF 

voice was deeper and more melodious than that of Mr. Pen- 
dleton. It was the canorous voice* of Cicero. He had lost 
the use of one of his hands, which he kept constantly covered 
with a black-silk bandage, neatly fitted to the palm of his 
hand, but leaving his thumb free ; yet, notwithstanding this 
disadvantage, his gesture was so graceful and so highly finish- 
ed, that it was said he had acquired it by practising before a 
mirror.f Such was his promptitude, that he required no 
preparation for debate. He was ready for any subject, as 
soon as it was announced ; and his speech was so copious, 
so rich, so mellifluous, set off with such bewitching cadence 
of voice, and such captivating grace of action, that, while you 
listened to him, you desired to hear nothing superior, and 
indeed thought him perfect. He had a quick sensibility and 
a fervid imagination, which Mr. Pendleton wanted. Hence 
his orations were warmer and more delightfully interesting ; 
yet still, to him those keys were not consigned which could 
unlock the sources either of the strong or tender passions. 
His defect was, that he was too smooth and too sweet. His 
style bore a striking resemblance to that of Herodotus, as de- 
scribed by the Roman orator : " He flowed on, like a quiet 
and placid river, without a ripple."t He flowed, too, through 
banks covered with all the fresh verdure and variegated bloom 
of the spring ; but his course was too subdued, and too beau 
lifully regular. A cataract, like that of Niagara, crowned 
with overhanging rocks and mountains, in all the rude and 
awful grandeur of nature, would have brought him nearer to 
the standard of Homer and of Henry. 

* Vox canora. See the Brutus, passim. 

t Edmund Randolph. 

I Sine ullis salebris, quasi sedatus amnis, Jluit. Orat. XII. 39. 



PATRICK HENRY. 69 

These were some of the stars of first magnitude that 
shone in the house of burgesses in the year 1765. There 
was yet a cluster of minor luminaries, which it were endless 
to delineate, but whose blended rays contributed to form that 
uncommon galaxy in which the plebeian Henry was now 
called upon to take his place. What had he to enable him 
to cope with all this lustre of talents and erudition ? Very 
little more than the native strength of his character ; a con- 
stancy of soul, which no array of power could shake ; a ge- 
nius that designed with all the boldness of Angelo, and an 
imagination that coloured with all the felicity of Titian. 

It has been already stated, that Mr. Henry was elected 
with express reference to an opposition to the stamp act. It 
was not, however, expected by his constituents, or meditated 
by himself, that he should lead the opposition. The addresses 
of the preceding year, made to the king, lords, and commons, 
in which so strong a truth had been stated, as that the stamp 
act, if persisted in, would reduce the colony to a state of sla- 
ver}'^, founded a hope that those who had commenced the 
opposition by remonstrance, would continue to give it the 
eclat of their high names, by resistance of a bolder character, 
if bolder should be necessary. Mr. Henry waited, therefore, 
to file in under the first champion that should raise the ban- 
ner of colonial liberty. In the meantime, another subject 
unexpectedly occurred to call him up, and it was on this 
other that he made his debut in the house. 

The incident has been stated to me in the following terms, 
by a gentleman who heard the debate : — *" The gentlemen 
of this country had, at that time, become deeply involved in 
that state of indebtment which has since ended in so general 

* Mr. Jefferson. 



70 WIRTSLIFEOF 

a crush of their fortunes. Mr. Robinson, the speaker, was 
also the treasurer, an officer always chosen by the assembly. 
He was an excellent man, liberal, friendly, and rich. He 
had been drawn in to lend, on his own account, great sums 
of money to persons of this description ; and especially those 
who were of the assembly. He used freely for this purpose 
the public money, confiding for its replacement in his own 
means, and the securities he had taken on those loans. 
About this time, however, he became sensible that his deficit 
to the public was become so enormous, as that a discovery 
must soon take place, for as yet the public had no suspicion 
of it. He devised, therefore, with his friends in the assembly, 
a plan for a public loan office, to a certain amount, from 
which moneys might be lent on public account, and on good 
landed security to individuals. I find, in Royle's Virginia 
Gazette of the 17th of May, 1765, this proposition for a loan 
office presented, its advantages detailed, and the plan explain- 
ed. It seems to have been done by a borrowing member, 
from the feeling with which the motives are expressed, and 
to have been preparatory to the intended motion. Between 
the 17th and 30th, (the latter being the date of Mr. Henry's 
resolutions on the stamp act,) the motion for a loan office was 
accordingly brought forward in the house of burgesses ; and 
had it succeeded, the debts due to Robinson on these loans 
would have been transferred to the public, and his deficit. 
thus completely covered. This state of things, however, was 
not yet known : but Mr, Hemry attacked the scheme on other 
general grounds, in that style of bold, grand, and over- 
whelming eloquence, for which he became so justly celebrated 
afterward. I had been intimate with him from the year 
1759-60, and felt an interest in what concerned him; and I 
can never forget a particular exclamation of his in the debate, 



PATRICK HENRY. 71 

which electrified his hearers. It had been urged, that, from 
certain unhappy circumstances of the colony, men of sub- 
stantial property had contracted debts, which, if exacted sud- 
denly, must ruin them and their families, but with a little 
indulgence of time, might be paid with ease. ' What, sir !' 
exclaimed Mr. Henry, in animadverting on this, ' is it pro- 
posed then, to reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and 
extravagance, by filling his pockets with money V These 
expressions are indelibly impressed on my memory. He laid 
open with so much energy the spirit of favouritism, on which 
the proposition was founded, and the abuses to which it would 
lead, that it was crushed in its birth. He carried with him 
all the members of the upper counties, and left a minority 
composed merely of the aristocracy of the country. From 
this time his popularity swelled apace ; and Mr. Robinson 
dying the year afterward, his deficit was brought to light, 
and discovered the true object of the proposition."* 

* In reply to this communication, I stated my surprise that no evi- 
dence of this motion was to be found on the journals of the day, and 
begged my correspondent to explain it, which he does very satisfacto- 
rily in the following terms : — "Abortive motions are not always en- 
tered on the journals, or rather they are rarely entered. It is the mo- 
dern introduction of yeas and nays which has given the means of 
placing a rejected motion on the journals : and it is likely that the 
speaker, who, as treasurer, was to be the loan officer, and had the di- 
rection of the journals, would choose to omit an entry of the motion 
in this case. This accounts sufficiently for the absence of any trace 
of the motion on the journals. There was no suspicion then, (so far 
at least as I knew,) that Mr. Robinson had used the public money in 
private loans to his friends, and that the secret object of this scheme 
was to transfer those debtors to the public, and thus clear his accounts. 
I have diligently examined the names of the members on the journals 
of 1764, to see if any were still living, to whose memory we might re- 
cur on this subject ; but I find not a single one now remaining in life." 



72 WIRTSLIFEOF 

The exclamation above quoted by my correspondent as 
having electrified Mr. Henry's hearers, is a striking specimen 
of one of his great excellences in speaking ; which was, the 
power of condensing the substance of a long argument, into 
one short pithy question. The hearer was surprised, in 
finding himself brought so suddenly and so clearl)'- to a just 
conclusion. He could scarcely conceive how it was effected ; 
and could not fail to regard, with high admiration, the power 
of that intellect which could come at its ends by so short a 
course ; and work out its purposes with the quickness and 
certainty of magic. 

The aristocracy were startled at such a phenomenon 
from the plebeian ranks. They could not be otherwise than 
indignant at the presumption of an obscure and unpolished 
rustic, who, without asking the support or countenance of 
any patron among themselves, stood upon his own ground, 
and bearded them even in their den. That this rustic 
should have been able, too, by his single strength, to baffle 
their whole phalanx and put it to rout, was a mortification too 
humiliating to be easily borne. They affected to ridicule 
his vicious and depraved prommciation, the homespun 
coarseness of his language, and his hypocritical canting in 
relation to his humility and ignorance. But they could not 
help admiring and envying his wonderful gifts ; that thor- 
ough knowledge of the human heart which he displayed ; 
that power of throwing his reasoning into short and clear 
aphorisms ; which, desultory as they were, supplied, in a 
great degree, the place of method and logic ; that imagination 

This debate must have been in 1765 instead of 1764. The only sur- 
viving member of that year is Paul Carrington, sen., esq., who took 
his seat in the house after the debate in question. 



PATRICK HENRY. 73 

SO copious, poetic, and sublime ; the irresistible power with 
which he caused every passion to rise at his bidding ; and 
all the rugged might and majesty of his eloquence. From 
this moment, he had no friends on the aristocratic side of the 
house. They looked upon him with envy and with terror. 
They were forced at length to praise his genius ; but that 
praise was wrung from them, with painful reluctance. They 
would have denied it if they could. They would have over- 
shadowed it ; and did at first try to overshadow it, by mag- 
nifying his defects ; but it would have been as easy for them 
to have eclipsed the splendour of the sun, by pointing to his 
spots. 

If, however, he had lost one side of the house by his un- 
daunted manner of blowing up this aristocratic project, he had 
made the other side his fast friends. They had listened 
with admiration, unmixed with envy. Their souls had been 
struck with amazement and rapture, and thrilled with un 
speakable sensations which they had never felt before. The 
man, too, who had produced these effects, luas one of them- 
selves. This was balm to them ; for there is a wide differ- 
ence between that distant admiration, which we pay as a 
tax, due to long-standing merit, in superior rank, and that 
throbbing applause which rushes spontaneously and warm 
from the heart, toward a new man and an equal. There is 
always something of latent repining, approaching to resent- 
ment, mingled with that respect which is exacted from us 
by rank ; and we feel a secret gratification in seeing it hum- 
bled. In the same proportion, we love the man who has 
given us this gratification, and avenged, as it were, our own 
past indignities. Such was precisely the state of feeling which 
Mr. Henry produced, on the present occasion. The lower 
ranks of the house beheld and heard him with gratitude and 
K 7 



74 WIRTSLIFEOF 

veneration. They regarded him as a sturdy and v/ide-spread- 
ing oak, beneatli whose cool and refreshing shade they might 
take refuge from those beams of aristocracy that had played 
upon them so long, with rather an unpleasant heat. 

After this victorious sally upon their party, the former lead- 
ers of the house were not very well disposed to look with a 
favourable eye on any proposition which he should make. 
They had less idea of contributing to foster the popvdarity 
and pamper the power of a man, who seemed born to be 
their scourge, and to drag down tlieir ancient honours to the 
dust. It was in this unpropitious state of tilings, after hav- 
ing waited in vain for some step to be taken on the other 
side of the house, and when the session was within three 
days of its expected close, that Mr. Henry introduced his 
celebrated resolutions on the stamp act. 

I will not withhold from the reader a note of this transac- 
tion from the pen of Mr. Henry himself. It is a curiosity, 
and highly worthy of preservation. After his death, there 
was found among his papers one sealed, and thus endorsed : 
" Enclosed are the resolutions of the Virginia assembly in 
1765, concerning the stamp act. Let my executors open this 
paper." Within was found the following copy of the resolu- 
tions, in Mr. Henry's handwriting : — 

" Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this, 
his majesty's colony and dominion, brought with them, and 
transmitted to their posterity, and all other his majesty's sub- 
jects, since inhabiting in this, his majesty's said colony, all 
the privileges, franchises, and immunities, that have at any 
time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of 
Great Britain. 

" Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King 
James the first, the colonists, aforesaid, are declared entitled 



PATRICKHENRY. 75 

to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of denizens 
and natural-born subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if 
they had been abiding and born within the realm of Eng- 
land. 

" Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, 
or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who 
can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, and 
the easiest mode of raising them, and are equally affected by 
such taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic of 
British freedom, and without which the ancient constitution 
cannot subsist. 

" Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this most 
ancient colony, have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of be- 
ing thus governed by their own assembly, in the article of 
their taxes and internal police, and that the same hath never 
been forfeited, or any other way given up, but hath been 
constantly recognised by the king and people of Great Britain. 

" Resolved, therefore, That the general assembly of this 
colony have the sole right and power to lay taxes and im- 
positions upon the inhabitants of this colony ; and that every 
attempt to vest such power in any person or persons what- 
soever, other than the general assembly aforesaid, has a mani- 
fest tendency to destroy British as well as American freedom." 

On the back of the paper containing those resolutions, is 
the following endorsement, which is also in the handwriting 
of Mr, Henry himself: — " The within resolutions passed the 
house of burgesses in May, 1765. They formed the first op- 
position to the stamp act, and the scheme of taxing America 
by the British parliament. All the colonies, either through 
fear, or want of opportunity to form an opposition, or from in- 
fluence of some kind or other, had remained silent. I had 
been for the first time elected a burgess, a few days before, 



76 WIRTSLIFEOF 

was young, inexperienced, unacquainted with the forms of 
the house, and the members that composed it. Finding the 
men of weight averse to opposition, and the commencement 
of the tax at hand, and that no person was hkely to step forth, 
I determined to venture, and alone, unadvised, and unassist- 
ed, on a blank leaf of an old law-book* wrote the within. 
Upon offering them to the house, violent debates ensued. 
Many threats were uttered, and much abuse cast on me, by 
the party for submission. After a long and warm contest, 
the resolutions passed by a very small majority, perhaps of 
one or two only. The alarm spread throughout America 
with astonishing quickness, and the ministerial party were 
overwhelmed. The great point of resistance to British taxa- 
tion was universally established in the colonies. This brought 
on the war, which finally separated the two countries, and 
gave independence to ours. Whether this will prove a bles- 
sing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of 
the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If 
they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of 
a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness 
alone can exalt them as a nation. 

" Reader ! whoever thou art, remember this ; and in thy 
sphere, practise virtue thyself, and encourage it in others. — 
P. Henry." 

Such is the short, plain, and modest account which Mr. 
Henry has left of this transaction. But other interesting par- 
ticulars have been handed down by tradition, and live still in 
the recollection of one, at least, now in life, as the reader will 
presently see by his own statement. 

The resolutions having been prepared in the manner 

* Judge Tyler says, " an old Coke upon Littleton." 



PATRICKHENRY. 77 

which has been mentioned, were shown by Mr. Henry to 
two members only, before they were offered to the house ; 
these were John Fleming, a most respectable member for 
the county of Cumberland, and George Johnston, for that 
of Fairfax."* 

The reader will remark that the first four resolutions, as 
left by Mr. Henry, do little more than reaffirm the principles 
advanced in the address, memorial, and remonstrance of the 
preceding year ; that is, they deny the right assumed by 
the British parliament, and assert the exclusive right of the 
colony to tax itself. There is an important difference, how- 
ever, between those state papers and the resolutions, in the 
point of time and the circumstances under which they were 
brought forward, for the address and other state papers were 
prepared before the stamp act had passed ; they do nothing 
more, therefore, than call in question, by a course of respect- 
ful and submissive reasoning, the propriety of exercising the 
right, before it had been exercised ; and they are, moreover, 
addressed to the legislature of Great Britain, hy the way of 
'prevention, and in a strain of decent remonstrance and ar- 

* Judge Winston, on the authority of Mr. Henry himself. The re- 
port of the day, that Mr. Johnston drew the resolutions, is certainly 
unfounded. Mr. Johnston, now only known from the circumstance 
of his having seconded Mr. Henry's resolutions, is one of those many 
friends of hberty who are sliding fast from the recollection of their 
country, and who deserve to be rescued from oblivion, by a more par- 
ticular notice than it is in my power to bestow upon them. Of Mr. 
Johnston, I can learn only, that he was a lawyer in the Northern 
Neck, highly respectable in his profession ; a scholar, distinguished 
for vigour of intellect, cogency of argument, firmness of character, 
love of order, and devotion to the cause of rational liberty — in short, 
exactly calculated by his love of the cause, and the broad and 
solid basis of his understanding, to uphold the magnificent structure 
of Henry's eloquence. 

7* 



78 WIRT S LIFE OF 

gument. But at the time when Mr. Henry offered his resoki- 
tions, the stamp act had passed ; and the resolutions were 
intended for the people of the colonies. It will also be ob- 
served, that the fifth resolution, as given by Mr. Henry, con- 
tains the bold assertion, that every attempt to vest the power 
of taxation over the colonies in any person or persons what- 
soever, other than the general assembly, had a manifest ten- 
dency to destroy British, as well as American freedom ; 
which was asserting, in effect, that the act which had passed 
was an encroachment on the rights and liberties of the peo- 
ple, and amounted to a direct charge of tyranny and despo- 
tism against the British king, lords, and commons. 

It is not wonderful that even the friends of colonial riffhts, 
who knew the feeble and defenceless situation of this coun- 
try, should be startled at a step so bold and daring. That 
effect was produced ; and the resolutions were resisted, not 
only by the aristocracy of the house, but by many of those 
who were afterward distinguished among the brightest cham- 
pions of American liberty. 

The following is Mr. Jefferson's account of this transaction : 
" Mr Henry moved and Mr. Johnston seconded these re- 
solutions successively. They were opposed by Messrs. Ran- 
dolph, Bland, Pendleton, Wythe, and all the old members, 
whose influence in the house had, till then, been unbroken. 
They did it, not from any question of our rights, but on the 
ground that the same sentiments had been, at their preceding 
session, expressed in a more conciliatory form, to which the 
answers were not yet received. But torrents of sublime elo- 
quence from Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of John- 
ston, prevailed. The last, however, and strongest resolution, 
was carried but by a single vote. The debate on it was 
most bloody. I was then but a student, and stood at the 



PATRICK HENRY. 79 

door of communication between the house and the lobby (for 
as yet there was no gallery) during the whole debate and 
vote ; and I well remember that, after the numbers on the 
division were told and declared from the chair, Peyton Ran- 
dolph (the attorney-generl) came out at the door where 1 
was standing, and said, as he entered the lobby : * By God, I 
would have given 500 guineas for a single vote :' for one 
would have divided the house, and Robinson was in the 
cliair, who he knew would have negatived the resolution. 
Mr. Henry left town that evening ; and the next morning, 
before the meeting of the house, Col. Peter Randolph, then 
of the council, came to the hall of burgesses, and sat at the 
clerk's table till the house-bell rang, thumbing over the vol- 
umes of journals, to find a precedent for expunging a vote of 
the house, which, he said, had taken place while he was a 
member or clerk of the house, I do not recollect which. 1 
stood by him at the end of the table, a considerable part of 
the time, looking on, as he turned over the leaves ; but I do 
not recollect whether he found the erasure. In the mean- 
time, some of the timid members, who had voted for the 
strongest resolution, had become alarmed ; and as soon as 
the house met, a motion was made and carried to expunge 
it from the journals. There being at that day but one printer, 
and he entirely under control of the governor, I do not know 
that this resolution ever appeared in print. I write this from 
m.emory : but the impression made on me at the time was 
such as to fix the facts indelibly in my mind. I suppose the 
original journal was among those destroyed by the British, 
or its obliterated face might be appealed to And here I will 
state, that Burk's statement of Mr. Henry's consenting to with- 
draw two resolutions, by way of compromise with his oppo- 
nents, is entirely erroneous." 



80 WIRT S LIFE OF 

The manuscript journal of the day is not to be found ; 
whether it was suppressed, or casually lost, must remain a 
matter of uncertainty ; it disappeared, however, shortly after 
the session,* and therefore could not have been among the 
documents destroyed by the British during the revolutionary 
war, as conjectured by Mr. Jefferson. 

In the interesting fact of the erasure of the fifth resolution, 
Mr. Jefferson is supported by the distinct recollection of Mr. 
Paul Carrington, late a judge of the court of appeals of Vir- 
ginia, and the only surviving member, it is believed, of the 
house of burgesses of 1765. The statement is also confirmed, 
if indeed further confirm.ation were necessary, by the circum- 
stance, that instead of the five resolutions, so solemnly re- 
corded by Mr. Hemy, as having passed the house, the journal 
of the day exhibits only the following four : — 

" Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this 
his majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia, brought with 
them and transmitted to their posterity, and all others his 
majesty's subjects, since inhabiting in this his majesty's said 
colony, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities, 
that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by 
the people of Great Britain. 

" Resolved, That by two royal charters, granted by King 
James I., the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all 
liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens and natural 
subjects to all intents and purposes, as if they had been 
abiding and born within the realm of England. 

" Resolved, That the taxation of the people, by themselves, 
or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who 

* " The manuscript journal was missing ten years before hostihties 
between the two countries ; therefore could not have been destroyed, 
as you supposed probable." — Padl Carrington, senr. 



PATRICK HENRY 81 

can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or the 
easiest method of raising them ; and must, themselves, be 
affected by every tax laid on the people, is the only security 
against a burdensome taxation, and the distinguishing charac- 
teristic of British freedom., without which the ancient con- 
stitution cannot exist. 

" Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this his most 
ancient and loyal colony have, without interruption, enjoyed 
the inestimable right of being governed by such laws respect- 
ing their internal polity and taxation, as are derived from 
their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, 
or his substitute ; and that the same hath never been forfeited 
or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognised by the 
kings and people of Great Britain y* 

* Such are the resolutions, as they were amended and passed by 
the house, with the exception of that which was rescinded on the next 
day. — Journals of 1765, page 150. Several historical mistakes have 
been committed in relation to these resolutions. Judge Marshall, in 
his life of Washington, (vol. 2d, note 4th, of the appendix,) gives an 
erroneous copy of them, from the book called Prior Documents ; in 
this, he is set right by the journals : he represents six as having been 
offered, and two rejected ; his authority for this, again, is the Prior 
Documents : but he is contradicted by Mr. Henry himself, who repre- 
sents five only as having been offered and passed, and Mr. Henry's 
written statement accords with the clear and strong recollection both 
of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Carrington. Mr. Burk gives the same erro- 
neous copy with Judge Marshall, and adds to them several mistakes 
of his own : he says the resolutions passed, by a large majority, /or^y 
only having voted against them,. Mr. Burk did not know the num- 
ber of the members, or he would have known that a vote of forty, in 
the negative, would not have left a large majority in favour of the 
resolutions. But we have the authority of Mr. Henry himself, (as 
we have seen,) of Mr. Jefferson, and of Mr. Carrington, for saying that 
the resolutions were carried by a majority of one only; on what au- 

L 



83 WIRTSLIFEOF 

" By these resolutions," says Mr. Jefferson, " and his man- 
ner of supporting them, Mr. Henry took the lead out of the 
hands of those who had, theretofore, guided the proceedings 
of the house ; that is to say, of Pendleton, Wythe, Bland, 
Randolph." It was, indeed, the measure which raised him 
to the zenith of his glory. He had never before had a sub- 
ject which entirely matched his genius, and was capable of 
drawing out all the powers of his mind. It was remarked 
of him, throughout his life, that his talents never failed to rise 
with the occasion, and in proportion with the resistance which 
he had to encounter. The nicety of the vote, on his last 
resolution, proves that this was not a time to hold in reserve 
any part of his forces. It was, indeed, an Alpine passage, 
under circumstances even more unpropitious than those of 

thority Mr. Burk speaks, we are not informed. His whole account of Mr. 
Henry's proposal on the next day, to secede, and of his finally giving 
up two resolutions, for the sake of unanimity, is contradicted again by 
Mr. Henry, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Carrington ; there is no such state- 
ment in the papers of the day, and the author does not condescend to 
give us his authority. Mr. Burk's skeleton of Mr. Henry's speech, on 
that occasion, is believed to be equally apocryphal ; the author of these 
sketches has not been able to procure a single authentic trace of that 
speech, except the anecdote presently given in the text. Mr. Burk 
concludes his account of this affair thus : " Struck with the alarming 
tendency of these proceedings, the governor suddenly dissolved the 
assembly," &c. — Vol. 3d, page 310. In opposition to this statement, 
we are told by Mr. Henry himself, that when he offered his resolu- 
tions, the session was near its regular close ; and the journals prove 
the fact to have been so. Mr. Henry left town for home on the even- 
ing of the day on which his resolutions were adopted ; it was on the 
next day (consequently in his absence) that the motion to rescind was 
made ; and the printed journals show that day and the day following 
to have been occupied with the usual business which closes a legisla- 
tive session. 



PATRICK HENRY. ^ 83 

Hannibal ; for he had not only to fight, hand to hand, the 
powerful party who were already in possession of the heights, 
but at the same instant to cheer and animate the timid band 
of followers, that were trembling, and fainting, and drawing 
back below him. It was an occasion that called upon him 
to put forth all his strength, and he did put it forth, in such 
a manner as man never did before. The cords of argument, 
with which his adversaries frequently flattered themselves 
that they had bound him fast, became packthreads in his 
hands. He burst them with as much ease as the unshorn 
Samson did the bands of the Philistines. He seized the 
pillars of the temple, shook them terribly, and seemed to 
threaten his opponents Avith ruin. It was an incessant storm 
of lightning and thunder, which struck them aghast. The 
fainthearted gathered courage from his countenance, and 
cowards became heroes while they gazed upon his exploits. 
It was in the midst of this magnificent debate, while he 
was descanting on the tyranny of the obnoxious act, that he 
exclaimed in a voice of thmider, and with the look of a god : 
" Cesar had his Brutus — Charles the First, his Cromwell — 
and George the Third — (' Treason !' cried the speaker — ' Trea- 
son, treason !' echoed from every part of the house. It was 
one of those trying moments which is decisive of character. 
Henry faltered not for an instant; but rising to a loftier 
attitude, and fixing on the speaker an eye of the most deter- 
mined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest empha- 
sis) — may profit hy their example. If this be treason, make 
the most of it."* 

* I had frequently heard the above anecdote of the cry of treason, 
but with such variations of the concluding words, that I began to doubt 
whether the whole might not be fiction. With a view to ascertain the 
truth, therefore, I submitted it to Mr. Jefferson, as it had been given 



84 WIRT S LIFE OF 

This was the only expression of defiance which escaped 
him during the debate. He was, throughout hfe, one of the 
most perfectly and uniformly decorous speakers that ever 
took the floor of the house. He was respectful even to hu- 
mility ; and the provocation must be gross indeed which 
would induce him to notice it. Yet, when he did notice it, 
better were it for the man never to have been born, than to 
fall into the hands of such an adversary. One lash from his 
scourge was infamy for life ; his look of anger or contempt 
was almost death. 

After this debate, there was no longer a question among 
the body of the people, as to Mr. Henry's being the first 
statesman and orator in Virginia. Those, indeed, whose ranks 
he had scattered, and whom he had thrown into the shade, 
still tried to brand him with the names of declaimer and dem- 
agogue. But this was obviously the effect of envy and 
mortified pride. A mere declaimer and demagogue could 
never have gained, much less have kept for more than thirty 
years, that ground which Mr. Henry held ; with a people, too, 
so cool, judicious, firm, and virtuous, as those who achieved 
the American revolution. 

From the period of which we have been speaking, Mr. 
Henry became the idol of the people of Virginia ; nor was his 
name confined to his native state. His light and heat were 
seen and felt throughout the continent ; and he was every 
where regarded as the great champion of colonial liberty. 

The impulse thus given by Virginia, was caught by the 

to me by Judge Tyler, and this is his answer : — " I well remember the 
cry of treason, the pause of Mr. Henry at the name of George III., 
and the presence of mind with which he closed his sentence, and 
baffled the charge vociferated." The incident, therefore, becomes 
authentic history. 



PATRICK HENRY. 85 

Other colonies. Her resolutions were every where adopted 
with progressive variations. The spirit of resistance became 
bolder and bolder, until the whole continent was in a flame ; 
and by the first of November, when the stamp act was, ac- 
cording to its provisions, to have taken effect, its execution 
had become utterly impracticable.* 

* The chronicles of the day exhibit, in a manner very curious and 
interesting, the progress of these feelings. We have already given a 
specimen of the drooping spirit of the Pennsylvania Gazette, on the 
first annunciation of the stamp act ; but after Mr. Henry had touched 
with his match the train of American courage, its scintillations were 
seen, sparkling and flashing, on every page of this paper. Thus, in 
the paper of June 20th, 1775 : — " We learn from the northward, that 
the stamp act is to take eflect in America on All Saints' day, the first 
of November next. In the year 1755, on the 1st of November, hap- 
pened that dreadful and memorable earthquake which destroyed the 
city of Lisbon," 

8 



SECTION III. 

At the opening of the next session, the speaker an- 
nounced the repeal of the stamp act ; and the house of 
burgesses, in a paroxysm of feehng, voted a statue to the 
king, and an obehsk to the British patriots by whose exertions 
the repeal had been effected. But before these monuments 
of national gratitude could be executed the effervescence 
subsided; and on the 9th of December, 1766, the bill v^^hich 
had been prepared for that purpose, w^as postponed to the first 
day of the next session ; after which, we hear of it no more. 

At the session of 1766, a question of great interest in 
those days, and one of real importance to the colony, came 
on to be discussed in the house of burgesses. Mr. Robin- 
son, who had so long held the joint offices of speaker and 
treasurer, was now dead. The general fact of his delin- 
quency as treasurer was understood, although the sum was 
not yet ascertained ; and that delinquency, whatever it 
might be, was alleged to have arisen principally from loans 
made to members of the house of burgesses. As the speaker, 
although elected in the first instance by the house, could not 
act until approved by the governor, and, when so approved, 
was in office for seven years, re-eligible indefinitely — and, as 
in the recent instance of Mr. Robinson, it had been discov- 
ered, that an oflSice so held was too apt to generate a devotion 

86 



PATRICK HENRY. 87 

to the purposes of the British court — it was considered by 
the patriots in the house, as a measure of sound pohcy, to 
take out of the hands of the speaker so formidable an engine 
of corruption and power as the treasury of the colony.* A 
motion was therefore made to separate the office of treasurer 
from the speaker's chair, which was supported by Mr. Henry 
with his usual ability. An arduous struggle ensued. Inno- 
vations, however correct in themselves, never fail to startle 
those who have grown gray in a veneration for the existing 
order of things. They fancy that they see in every impor- 
tant change an indirect blow at the established government, 
and at the foundations of their own property. This union 
of the speaker's chair with the office of treasurer, was one of 
those errors in policy which time had consecrated, and it re- 
quired a hand both steady and skilful to remove the veil and 
expose its deformity. That hand was furnished by Mr. Hen- 
ry. The union of boldness and decency which composed 
his character, of decisive energy in the support of his own 
opinions, and respectful tenderness toward those of others, 
fitted him peculiarly for the discharge of this duty. The 
house admired, on this occasion, the facility with which he 
could adapt himself to an)'' subject. He had that founda- 
tion of strong natural sense, without which genius is a mis- 
fortune ; an instinctive accuracy of judgment, which always 

* A correspondent furnishes the following note on this passage : — 
" There was but one clear and sound bottom on which the separation 
of the chair and the treasury was decided. The legislature made all 
the levies of money payable into the hands of their speaker, over whom 
they had control. The only hold the governor had on him was, a 
negative on his appointment as speaker at every new election, which 
amounted, consequently, to a negative on him as treasurer, and dis- 
posed him, so far. to be obsequious to the governor." 



88 WIRTSLIFEOF 

proportioned his efforts to the occasion. He was never guilty 
of the ridiculous and common error amongst young members, 
of attempting to force the subject beyond its nature — of 
swelling trifles into consequence, and working the ocean into 
tempest, 

" To waft a feather, or to drown a fly." 

It is almost superfluous to add, that such a cause, in the 
hands of such an advocate, did not fail of success. The mo- 
tion for separating the two ofiices being carried, a committee 
was appointed to examine the accounts of the late treasurer, 
and their report disclosed an enormous deficit, exceeding a 
hundred thousand pounds. 

On the separation of the offices of speaker and treasurer, 
Peyton Randolph, the attorney-general, was elected to the 
chair; and Robert C. Nicholas, an eminent lawyer and a 
most virtuous man, to the office of treasurer. 

After having tried his strength for several years on the 
legislative floor, against some of the brightest champions of 
the bar, Mr. Henry came, in the year 1769, to the bar itself 
of the general court. " The profits of his practice, thereto- 
fore, (says my informant,) must have been very moderate. 
For about this time, he informed me that he thought his prop- 
erty was not worth more than fifteen hundred pounds ; ad- 
ding, that if he could only make it double that sum, he should 
be entirely content."* 

At this bar, he entered into competition with all the first 
legal characters in the colony, some of whom had been edu- 
cated at the Temple. Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Wythe have 
been already mentioned : but, in addition to these, he had to 

* Judi^e Winston. 



PATRICK HENRY. 89 

encounter Mr. John Randolph, Mr. Thompson Mason, Mr 
Robert C. Nicholas, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Jefferson • 
all of them masters of the learning of their profession, and all 
of them men of pre-eminent abilities. 

It cannot be expected from Mr. Henry's legal preparation, 
that he was able to contend with these gentlemen on a mere 
question of law. He wanted that learning whose place no 
splendour of genius can supply to the lawyer ; and he wanted 
those habits of steady and persevering application, Avilhout 
which that learning is not to be acquired. It is said, indeed, 
that he was wofully deficient as a lawyer ; so little acquaint- 
ed with the fundamental principles of his profession, and so 
little skilled in that system of artificial reasoning on which 
the common law is built, as not to be able to see the remote 
bearings of the reported cases ; and hence, it has been said, 
that it happened with him not unfrequently, whenever he 
did attempt to argue a question of law, to furnish authorities 
destructive to his own cause. Yet he never did and never 
could vanquish his aversion to the systematic study of the 
law. On questions turning on the laws of nations, and even 
on the maritime law, whose basis is natural reason and jus- 
tice, his vigour of mind made him occasionally very great. 
One of my correspondents, for example, relates to me an in- 
stance of his appearing in the court of admiralty, under the 
regal government, in behalf of a Spanish captain, whose 
vessel and cargo had been libelled. A gentleman who was 
present, and who was very well qualified to judge, was heard 
to declare, after the trial was over, that he never heard a 
more eloquent or argumentative speech in his life ; that Mr. 
Henry was on that occasion greatly superior to Mr. Pendle- 
ton, Mr. Mason, or any other counsel who spoke to the sub- 
ject ; and that he was astonished how Mr. Henry could have 
M 



90 WIRTSLIFEOF 

acquired such a knowledge of the maritime law, to which, it 
was believed, he had never before turned his attention. 

But this special preparation on a given subject, and that 
subject, too, depending on the liberal and equitable principles 
of the maritime law, is not at all at variance with the report 
of his inefficiency, on questions to be decided by the com- 
mon law merely. The power of arguing questions of the 
latter description to advantage, requires the mind, in the 
first place, to be deeply imbued with that peculiar spirit of 
reasoning which reigns throughout the whole system of the 
common law ; and, in the next, it requires a cool and clear 
accuracy of thinking, and an elaborate exactness and nicety 
in the deduction of thought, to which Mr. Hemy's early and 
inveterate habits of indolence, as well as the sublime and ex- 
cursive fervour of his genius, were altogether hostile. 

It was on questions before a jury, that he was in his nat- 
ural element. There, his intimate knowledge of human 
nature, and the rapidity as well as justness of his inferences, 
from the flitting expressions of the countenance, as to what 
was passing in the hearts of his hearers, availed him fully. 
The jury might be composed of entire strangers, yet he 
rarely failed to know them, man by man, before the evidence 
was closed. There was no studied fixture of features that 
could long hide the character from his piercing and experi- 
enced view. The slightest unguarded turn of countenance, 
or motion of the eye, let him at once into the soul of the man 
whom he was observing. Or, if he doubted whether his con- 
clusions were correct, from the exhibitions of countenance 
during the narration of the evidence, he had a mode of play- 
mg a prelude, as it were, upon the jury, in his exordium, 
which never failed to "wake into life each silent string," and 
show him the whole compass as well as pitch of the instru- 



PATRICK HEN R Y. 91 

ment; and, indeed, (if we may believe all the concurrent 
accounts of his exhibitions in the general court,) the most ex- 
quisite performer that ever " swept the sounding lyre" had 
not a more sovereign mastery over its powers, than Mr. Henry 
had over the springs of feeling and thought that belong to a 
ury . There was a delicacy, a taste, a felicity in his touch, that 
was perfectly original, and without a rival. His style of ad- 
dress, on these occasions, is said to have resembled very much 
that of the scriptures. It was strongly marked with the same 
simplicity, the same energy, the same pathos. He sounded no 
alarm ; he made no parade, to put the jury on their guard. It 
was all so natural, so humble, so unassuming, that they were 
carried imperceptibly along, and attuned to his purpose, until 
some master-touch dissolved them into tears. His language 
of passion was perfect. There was no word " of learned 
length or thundering sound," to break the charm. It had 
almost all the stillness of solitary thinking. It was a sweet 
revery, a delicious trance. His voice, too, had a wonderful 
effect. He had a singular power of infusing it into a jury, 
and mixing its notes with their nerves, in a manner which 
it is impossible to describe justly ; but which produced a thril- 
ling excitement, in the happiest concordance with his designs. 
No man knew so well as he did what kind of topics to urge 
to their understandings ; nor what kind of simple imagery to 
present to their hearts. His eye, which he kept riveted upon 
them, assisted the process of fascination, and at the same 
time informed him what theme to press, or at what instant 
to retreat, if by rare accident he touched an unpropitious 
string. And then he had such an exuberance of appropriate 
thoughts of apt illustrations, of apposite images, and such a 
melodious and varied roll of the happiest words, that the 
hearer was never wearied by repetition, and never winced 



92 WIRTSLIFEOF 

from an apprehension tliat the intellectual treasures of the 
speaker would be exhausted.* 

The defence of criminal causes was his great professional 
forte. It seems that the eighth day of the general court was 
formerly set apart for criminal business. Mr. Henry made 
little or no figure during the civil days of the court ; but on 
the eighth day he was the monarch of the bar. These causes 
brought him into direct collision with Mr. John Randolph, 
who had now succeeded Peyton as the attorney-general. 

Mr. Randolph, it has been remarked, was, in person and 
manners, among the most elegant gentlemen in the colony, 
and in his profession one of the most splendid ornaments of 

* A striking example of this witchery of his eloquence, even on com- 
mon subjects, was related by a very respectable gentleman, the late 
Major Joseph Scott, the marshal of this state. This gentleman had 
been summoned, at great inconvenience to his private affairs, to attend 
as a witness a distant court, in which Mr. Henry practised. The cause 
which had carried him thither having been disposed of, he was setting 
out in great haste to return, when the sheriff summoned him to serve 
on a jury. This cause was represented as a complicated and impor- 
tant one ; so important as to have enlisted in it all the most eminent 
members of the bar. He was therefore alarmed at the prospect of a 
long detention, and made an unavailing effort with the court to get 
himself discharged from the jury. He was compelled to take his seat. 
When his patience had been nearly exhausted by the previous speak- 
ers, Mr. Henry rose to conclude the cause, and having much matter 
to answer, the major stated that he considered himself a prisoner for 
the evening, if not for the night. But, to his surprise, Mr. Henry 
appeared to have consumed not more than fifteen minutes in the reply ; 
and he would scarcely believe his own watch, or those of the other 
jurymen, when they informed him that he had in reality been speak- 
ing upward of two hours. So powerful was the charm by which he 
could bind the senses of his hearers, and make even the most impa- 
tient unconscious of the lapse of time. 



PATRICK HENRY. 93^^ 

the bar. He was a polite scholar, as well as a profound law- 
yer, and his eloquence also was of a high order. His voice, 
action, style, were stately, and uncommonly impressive ; but 
gigantic as he was in relation to other men, he was but a 
pigmy, when opposed in a criminal trial to the arch magician, 
Henry. In those cases Mr. Henry was perfectly irresistible. 
He adapted himself, without effort, to the character of the 
cause ; seized, with the quickness of intuition, its defensible 
point, and never permitted the jury to lose sight of it. Sir; 
Joshua Reynolds has said of Titian, that, by a few strokes 
of his pencil, he knew how to mark the image and character 
of whatever object he attempted ; and produced by this means 
a truer representation than any of his predecessors, wlio fin- 
ished every hair. In like manner, Mr. Henry, by a few 
master-strokes upon the evidence, could m general stamp 
upon the cause whatever image or character he pleased ; and 
convert it into tragedy or comedy, at his sovereign will, and 
with a power which no efforts of his adversary could counter- 
act. He never wearied the jury by a dry and minute analysis 
of the evidence ; he did not expend his strength in finishing 
the hairs ; he produced all his high effect by those rare 
master-touches, and by the resistless skill with which, in a 
very few words, he could mould and colour the prominent 
facts of a cause to his purpose. He had wonderful address, 
too, in leading off the minds of his hearers from the contem- 
plation of unfavourable points, if at any time they were too 
stubborn to yield to his power of transformation. He beguiled 
the hearer so far from them, as to diminish them by distance, 
and soften, if not entirely cast into shade, their too strong 
natural colours. At this distance, too, he had a better op- 
portunity of throwing upon them a false light, by an appa- 
rently casual ray of refraction from other pomts m the evi- 



94 WIRTSLIFEOF 

dence, whose powers no man better knew how to array and 
concentrate, in order to disguise or edipse an obnoxious fact. 
It required a mind of uncommon vigilance, and most intract- 
able temper, to resist this charm with which he decoyed 
away his hearers ; it demanded a rapidity of penetration 
which is rarely, if ever, to be found in the jury-box, to detect 
the intellectual juggle by which he spread his nets around 
them ; it called for a stubbornness and obduracy of soul 
which does not exist, to sit unmoved under the pictures of 
horror or of pity which started from his canvass. They 
might resolve, if they pleased, to decide the cause against him, 
and to disregard every thing which he could urge in the de- 
fence of his client. But it was all in vain. Some feint, in 
an unexpected direction, threw them off their guard, and they 
were gone ; some happy phrase, burning from the soul ; 
some image fresh from Nature's mint, and bearing her own 
beautiful and genuine impress, struck them with delightful 
surprise, and melted them into conciliation; and conciliation 
toward Mr. Henry, was victory inevitable. In short, he un- 
derstood the human character so perfectly; knew so well all 
its strength and all its weaknesses, together with every path 
and by-way which winds around to the citadel of the best- 
fortified heart and mind, that he never failed to take them, 
either by stratagem or storm. Hence he was, beyond doubt, 
the ablest defender of criminals in Virginia, and will probably 
never be equalled again. 

It has been observed, that Mr. Henry's knowledge of the 
common law was extremely defective ; but his attendance 
upon the general court was calculated to cure that defect, in 
a considerable degree. All legal questions of magnitude or 
difficulty came before that tribunal, either originally or by 
appeal ; and he had continual opportunities of hearing them 



PATRICK HENRY. 95 

discussed in the ablest manner, by the brightest luminaries of 
the American bar. His was a mind on which nothing was 
lost ; on which no useful seed could be cast without shooting 
into all the luxuriance of which its nature was susceptible. 
Thus improving every hint, and ramifying every principle 
which was brought into his view, there is reason to believe 
that a few years must have made him not only a master of 
the general canons of property, but of the modifications and 
exceptions of more frequent occurrence, by which those ca- 
nons are restrained and governed. In support of this con- 
clusion, I find that in January 1773, Robert C. Nicholas, 
who had enjoyed the first practice at the bar, and who, by 
virtue of his office of treasurer, was forced to relinquish that 
practice, committed, by a public advertisement, his unfinish- 
ed business to Mr. Henry ; a step which a man so remark- 
ably scrupulous in the discharge of every moral duty would 
not have taken, had there been any incompetency on the part 
of his substitute. 

The British ministry, however, did not permit Mr. Heniy 
to waste himself in forensic exertions. The joy of the Amer- 
icans, on the repeal of the stamp act, was very short-lived. 
That measure had not been, on the part of the British par- 
liament, a voluntary sacrifice to truth and right. The min- 
istry and their friends disavowed this ground ; and were 
forward on every occasion, to convince the colonies that they 
had nothing to expect, either from the clemency or the mag- 
nanimity of the British cabinet. Thus on a question of sup- 
plies for the army, in the session of parliament of 1766-7, a 
motion was made in the house of commons, that the reve- 
nues arising and to arise in America, be applied to subsist- 
ing the troops now there, and those other regiments which it 
is proposed to send ; in support of which, that brilliant po- 



96 WIRTSLIFEOF 

litical meteor, Charles Townsend, urged, among other thinga, 
" the propriety of more troops being sent to America, 
and of their being quartered in the large towns. He 
said, that he had a plan preparing, which he would lay be- 
fore the house, for the raising of supplies in America. 
That the legislative authority of Great Britain extended to 
every colony in every particular. That the distinction 
between internal and external taxes was nonsense ; and that 
he voted for the repeal of the stamp act, not because it was 
not a good act, but because, at that time, there appeared a 
propriety in repealing it. He added, that he repeated the 
sentence, that the galleries might hear him, and after that, 
he did not expect to have his statue erected in America : in 
all which, Mr, Grenville joined him fully.'' 

This temper soon manifested itself in open acts, and turned 
the late joy of the colonies into mourning. 

The first obnoxious measure was a stern demand of satis- 
faction from the legislatures of the colonies, for the injuries 
which had been done to the stamp officers and their ad- 
herents. The legislature of Massachusetts, of whom this 
demand was first made, very respectfully, and with good 
reason, questioned the propriety and justice of taxing the 
whole colony for the excesses of a few individuals, which 
they had neither prompted nor approved ; for the sake of 
peace, however, and in the spirit of accommodation, that satis- 
faction was given ; but they annexed to their vote of satisfac- 
tion a grant of pardon to the rioters ; and, in England, ac- 
cording to the usual courtesy of that country, nothing was 
said of the satisfaction, while the pardon was treated as a most 
insolent and impudent usurpation of the royal authority. 

The next step was that suggested by Mr. Townsend, of 
quartering large bodies of troops upon the chief towns in the 



PATRICKHENRY. 97 

colonies, and demanding of the several colonial legislatures 
a provision for their comfortable support and accommodation. 
A measure more replete with exasperation could scarcely 
have been devised. The very presence of those myrmidons 
was an insult ; for it was a direct reflection on the fidelity of 
the colonists. Their object was perfectly understood : it was 
to curb the just and honourable spirit of the people ; to dragoon 
them into submission to the parliamentary claim of taxation, 
and reduce them to the condition of vassals, governed by 
the right of conquest. The rudeness of the soldiery, too, 
was well calculated to keep up and increase the irritation, 
which their presence alone would have been sufficient to ex- 
cite. In Boston, they were in the habit of stopping the most 
respectable citizens in the streets, and compelling them to 
answer insulting inquiries, or committing them to confine- 
ment on their refusal, assigning, as the ground of their con- 
duct, that the town was a garrisoned town. In New York, 
they provoked a contest with the people, by making war upon 
a liberty pole, which was the first object of their earthly de- 
votions, and which the soldiers continually destroyed or at- 
tempted to destroy, as soon as it could be replaced. And, as 
if all this insult and humiliation were not enough, the colo- 
nies were to be constrained to tax themselves, to foster and 
cherish those instruments of their degradation. 

The legislature of New York, in a tone at least sufficiently 
submissive for the occasion, and on the false ground of the 
inability of the colony, begged to be excused from making 
the provision. For this high offence, the legislative power 
of that colony was abolished by act of parliament, until they 
should submit to make the provision which was required : 
and they did submit. 

N 9 



98 WIRTSLIFEOF 

A body of British troops, alleged to have been driven by 
stress of weather into Boston, in the recess of the colonial 
legislature, had been provided for out of the public moneys, 
by the governor and his council. The legislature met shortly 
afterward, and remonstrated against this unconstitutional ap- 
propriation, with that Roman firmness and dignity which 
marked the character of Massachusetts in every stage of the 
contest. But Governor Bernard, highly indignant at what he 
affected to consider as presumption, made such a communica- 
tion upon the subject to the British court, as could have had, 
and could have been designed to have, no other effect than to 
widen the breach, and inflame more highly those animosities 
which already required no new aggravation. 

These military preparations were well understood to be the 
harbingers of some unconstitutional act, the execution of 
which they were necessary to enforce. Why those prep- 
arations were restricted to the northern states, and more 
particularly to Massachusetts, has never been satisfactorily 
explained. There was no colony which resisted with more 
firmness and constancy the pretensions of the British parlia- 
ment than that of Virginia ; yet no military force was thought 
necessary, dming the lives of the governors Fauquier and 
Bottetourt, to keep down the spirit of rebellion in this colony. 
A solution of the difficulty may perhaps be found in the 
character of the different governors. Virginia had the good 
fortune, during this period, to be governed by enlightened 
and amiable men, who saw and did justice to the motives 
and measure of resistance which was meditated ; who were 
both able and willing to distinguish between reason and 
force, between remonstrance and rebellion ; who perceived 
with pleasure, the sphit of genuine and unaffected loyalty 
and affection for the parent-country, which mingled itself 



PATRICK HENRY. ^9 

with every complaint ; and who, in their communications to 
the British court, were disposed rather " to extenuate," than 
" to set down aught in mahce." Whereas Bernard, the gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, was the fit instrument and apt repre- 
sentative of the masters whom he served : for he had all their 
pride and unfeeling insolence, and seems to have enjoyed a 
kind of fiend-like pleasure, in rendering his province hateful 
at home, by the most virulent misrepresentations ; and in 
drawing down upon her the accumulated curses and oppres- 
sions of the parent-country* 

These preparatory steps having been taken, an act of par- 
liament was passed, imposing certain duties on glass, white 
and red lead, painters' colours, tea, and paper, imported into 
the colonies. This act was to take effect on the 20th of 
November, 1767; and, to insure its operation, another act 
authorized the king to appoint a board of trade to reside in 
the colonies, and to instruct them at his pleasure and without 
limit, as to the mode of executing their duties vmder this 
law. A commission accordingly issued, by which the com- 
missioners were armed with a power of search and seizure, 
at their discretion ; with authority to call for aid upon the 
naval and military establishments within the colony ; and 
loith an exemption from prosecution or responsibility he- 

* Extract of a letter, dated London, June 5, 1770 : — " The people of 
England now curse Governor Bernard, as bitterly as those of America. 
Bernard was drove out of the Smyrna coffee-house, not many days 
since, by General Oglethorpe, who told him he was a dirty, factious 
scoundrel, and smelled cursed strong of the hangman ; that he had 
better leave the room, as unworthy to mix with gentlemen ot charac- 
ter, but that he would give him the satisfaction of following him to 
the door, had he any thing to reply. The governor left the house 
like a guilty coward." — Pennsylvania Gazette, August 30th, 1770. 



1 00 VV I R T ' S L I F E O F 

fore any of the king's courts, for ivhatsoever they might dOj 
hy any construction of their commission. 

Another measure which gave great oifence to the colonies, 
was the estabhshment of a board of admiralty, with exten- 
sive powers, supported by large salaries independent of the 
colonies, yet drawn from the revenues compulsorily levied 
upon them ; and the appointment, also, of common law 
judges, to be paid by the crown out of the revenues of the 
colony, and to hold their offices during the king's pleasure. 

To all these outrages the legislatures of the colonies an- 
swered by petitions, memorials, remonstrances, and letters, 
addressed to the friends of colonial liberty in England ; blend- 
ing, with the strongest professions of loyalty, the expression 
of their hope, that those obnoxious measures would be recon- 
sidered and reversed, and the colonies protected in their an- 
cient and unalienable rights. In reply, they received from 
the kindest of their English friends, only exhortations to pa- 
tience under their sufferings ; by the court-party, menaces 
and anathemas were brandished over their heads ; and the 
commissioners of the revenue, together with their auxiliaries, 
the naval and military officers and soldiery, continued to out- 
rage and insult them, both in their persons and property. 

The people of Massachusetts, with the view of frustrating 
the new revenue bill, entered into an association, by which 
they bound themselves not to import from Great Britain, or 
use any of the articles taxed ; and included in the resolution 
every article of British manufacture which was not of the 
first and most indispensable necessity. The legislature of that 
state also resolved on a circular-letter to their sister-colonies, 
inviting their concurrence and co-operation toward procuring 
relief, in a constitutional way, from the grievances under 
which they were all suffering. This measure having been 



PATRICK HENRY. 101 

reported by Governor Bernard, with his usual embelhshments, 
to the Earl of Hilsborough, the British minister for the Amer- 
ican department, that minister required the governor to de- 
mand of the legislature an immediate rescission of their reso- 
lution, on pain of being forthwith dissolved. They refused 
to rescind, and were dissolved accordingly. The same min- 
ister also addressed a circular-letter to the governors of the 
other colonies, exhorting them to crush this correspondence 
and concert amongst the colonial legislatures in the bud, by 
exacting from them an assurance that they would not answer 
the circular of Massachusetts. They refused to give such 
assurance, and were in their turn dissolved. 

These violent measures, however, produced an effect very 
different from that which was expected to flow from them. 
The dissolution of their legislatures swelled the catalogue of 
their wrongs, and ministered additional fuel to the resent- 
ments of the people. The non-importation agreement be- 
came general ; and, by means of committees established in 
the several colonies, its execution was guarded with a vigilance 
which could not be eluded. A breach of it was infamy, in- 
evitable and unpardonable. Its observance was a badge of 
honour, by which the patriot-colonist was proud to be dis- 
tinguished. The privation was, indeed, in many respects 
severe, but the sufferers were upheld by that kind of holy 
fortitude which enabled the Christian martyrs to smile 
amidst the flames, and to triumph, even in the agonies of 
death. Every grade of society, all ages, and both sexes, 
kindled in this sacred competition of patriotism. The ladies 
of the colonies, in the dawn, and throughout the whole pro- 
gress of the revolution, shone with pre-eminent lustre in this 
war of fortitude and self-denial. They renounced, without 
a sigh, the use of the hixuries and even of the comforts to 

9* 



102 WIRTSLIFEOF 

which they had been accustomed ; and felt a nobler pride in 
appearing dressed in the simple productions of their own 
looms, than they had ever experienced from glittering in the 
brightest ornaments of the east. 

The British court looked upon this trial of virtuous forti- 
tude with surly and inexorable rigour. They seemed deter- 
mined to carry the point, at every hazard. The sufferings 
of their own merchants and manufacturers were forgotten, 
in the barbarous pleasure with which they contemplated the 
sufferings of the colonists. It is not in human nature to con- 
tinue long to return good for evil, affection for cruelly. The 
admiration and devotion of the colonies for the parent-coun- 
try became gradually weaker. This transition of feeling is 
most interestingly marked in the chronicles of the day. The 
epithets, " our kind and indulgent mother," with which she 
was wont to be greeted, were progressively changed into 
" unnatural parent — cruel stepmother — proud, merciless op- 
pressor — haughty, unfeeling, and unrelenting tyrant." This 
state of feeling was aggravated by the collisions which were 
perpetually occurring between the king's soldiery and the 
people of the towns in which they were quartered. The 
streets of New-York and of Boston were the theatres of con- 
tinual riots, ending almost invariably in blood, and not unfre- 
quently in death. The newspapers of the day teem with 
the detail of scenes of this sort ; and from the effect which 
they produce on the reader at this distance of time, it is not 
very difficult to conceive what must have been their opera- 
tion on the people of that day, already goaded to madness 
by previous injuries. 

It is not my purpose to record the series of measures which 
led to the dismemberment of the British empire. This is the 
function of the historian. My business is only with Mr. 



PATRICK HENRY. 103 

Henry ; and, for my purpose, nothing more is necessary than 
to recall the general character of the contest, for the purpose 
of showing the part which he bore in it. The revolution 
may be truly said to have commenced with his resolutions 
in 1765. From that period not an hour of settled peace had 
existed between the two countries. It is true, that the erup- 
tion produced by the stamp act had subsided with its repeal ; 
and the people had resumed their ancient settlements and 
occupations ; but there was no peace of the heart or of the 
mind. The rumbling of the volcano was still audible, and 
the smoke of the crater continually ascended, mingled not 
unfrequently with those flames and masses of ignited matter 
which announced a new and more terrible explosion. 

These were " the times that tried the souls of men ;" and 
never, in any country or in any age, did there exist a race 
of men whose souls were better fitted to endure the trial. 
Patient in suffering, firm in adversity, calm and collected 
amid the dangers which pressed around them, cool in council, 
and brave in battle, they were worthy of the cause, and the 
cause was worthy of them. ^ 

The house of burgesses of Virginia, which had led the 
opposition to the stamp act, kept their high ground during 
the whole of the ensuing contest. Mr. Henry, having remov- 
ed again from Louisa to his native county, in the year 1767 
or 1768, continued a member of the public councils till the 
close of the revolution ; and there could be no want of bold- 
ness in any body, of which he was a member. The session 
of 1768-9 was marked by a set of resolutions so strong as to 
have excited even the amiable and popular Bottetourt to dis- 
pleasure. By those resolutions they reasserted, in the most 
emphatic terms, the exclusive right of the colony to tax them- 
selves in all cases whatever ; complained of the recent acts 



104 WIRT's LIFE OF 

of parliament, as so many violations of the British consti- 
tution ; and remonstrated, vigorously, against the right of 
transporting the freeborn subjects of these colonies to Eng- 
land, to take their trial before prejudiced tribunals, for of- 
fences alleged to be committed in the colonies. The tradition 
with regard to these resolutions is, that they were agreed to 
in a committee of the whole on one day, but not reported to 
the house, with the view of preventing their appearance on 
the journal of the next day, before they could be completely 
passed through the forms of the house ; apprehending, from 
the fate of the Massachusetts legislature, that a knowledge of 
these resolutions, on the part of the governor, would produce 
an immediate dissolution of the house. When the house 
rose for the evening, however, the fact of their having pass- 
ed such resolutions was whispered to the governor; and he 
endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of them from the 
clerk.* On the next day, the house, foreseeing the event, 
met on the instant of the ringing of the bell, and with closed 
doors received the report of their resolutions, considered, 
adopted, and ordered them to be entered upon their journals ; 
which they had scarcely done when they were summoned 
to attend the governor, and were dissolved. " Mr. Speaker," 
said he, " and gentlemen of the house of representatives, I 
have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects ; 
you have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are ac- 
cordingly dissolved." 

But the dissolution of the house of burgesses did not 
change the materials of which it had been composed. The 
same members were re-elected without a single exception, 
and the same determined spirit of resistance continued to dif- 

*lMr. Wythe. 



% 

PATRICK HENRY. .105 

fuse itself from the legislature over the colony which they 
represented, and to animate by sympathy the neighbouring 
colonies. This house had the merit of originating that pow- 
erful engine of resistance, corresponding committees between 
the legislatures of the different colonies.* The measure was 
brought forward by Mr. Dabney Carr, a new member from 
the county of Louisa, in a committee of the whole house, on 
the 12th of March, 1773; and the resolutions, as adopted, 
now stood upon the journals of the day, in the following 
terms : — 

" Whereas, the minds of his majesty's faithful subjects in 
this colony have been much disturbed by various rumours 
and reports of proceedings, tending to deprive them of their 
ancient, legal, and constitutional rights ; 

" And whereas, the affairs of this colony are frequently con- 
nected with those of Great Britain, as well as the neighbour- 
ing colonies, which renders a communication of sentiments 
necessary : in order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness, and 
to quiet the minds of the people, as well as for the other good 
piurposes above mentioned : — 

^ Be it resolved, That a standing committee of correspond- 
ence and inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, 
to wit : the Honourable Peyton Randolph, esquire, Robert C. 
Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Harri- 
son, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, 

* The state of Massachusetts is entitled to equal honour : the mea- 
sures were so nearly coeval in the two states, as to render it impossi- 
ble that either could have borrowed it from the other. The messen- 
gers, who bore the propositions from the two states, are said to have 
crossed each other on the way. This is Mr. Jefferson's account of 
it ; and Mrs. Warren, in her very interesting history of the revolution, 
admits, that the measure was original on the part of Virginia, See 
the note to page 110 of her first volume. 
O 



106 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Dabney Carr, Archibald Gary, and Thomas Jefferson, 
esquires, any six of whom to be a committee, whose busi- 
ness it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic in- 
telligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British par- 
liament, or proceedings of administration, as may relate to, 
or affect the British colonies in America ; and to keep up 
and maintain a correspondence and communication with our 
sister-colonies, respecting those important considerations ; 
and the result of such of their proceedings, from time to 
time, to lay before this house. 

" Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said commit- 
tee, that they do, without delay, inform themselves particu- 
larly of the principles and authority on which was constitu- 
ted a court of inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode 
Island, with powers to transport persons accused of offences 
committed in America, to places beyond the seas, to be tried. 

" The said resolutions being severally read a second time, 
were, upon the question severally put thereupon, agreed to 
by the house, nemine contradicente. 

" Resolved, That the speaker of this house do transmit to 
the speakers of the different assemblies of the British colonies 
on the continent, copies of the said resolutions, and desire 
that they will lay them before their respective assemblies, 
and request them to appoint some person or persons of their 
respective bodies, to communicate from time to time with 
the said committee." 

In supporting these resolutions, Mr. Carr made his dehuty 
and a noble one it is said to have been. This gentleman 
by profession a lawyer, had recently commenced his practice 
at the same bars with Patrick Henry ; and although he had 
not yet reached the meridian of life, he was considered by 
far the most formidable rival in forensic eloquence that Mr. 



PATRICK HENRY, 107 

Henry had ever yet had to encounter. He had the advan- 
tage of a person at once dignified and engaging, and the man- 
ner and action of an accomphshed gentleman. His education 
was a finished one ; his mind trained to correct thinking ; 
his conceptions quick, and clear, and strong ; he reasoned 
with great cogency, and had an imagination which enlight- 
ened beautifully, without interrupting or diverting the course 
of his argument. His voice was finely toned ; his feelings 
acute ; his style free, and rich, and various ; his devotion to 
the cause of liberty verging on enthusiasm ; and his spirit 
firm and undaunted, beyond the possibility of being shaken. 
With what delight the house of burgesses hailed this new 
champion, and felicitated themselves on such an accession to 
their cause, it is easy to imagine. But what are the hopes 
and expectations of mortals ! 

" Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra 
" Esse sinent — " 

In two months from the time at which this gentleman stood 
before the house of burgesses, in all the pride of health, and 
genius, and eloquence — he was no more : lost to his friends, 
and to his country, and disappointed of sharing in that noble 
triumph which awaited the illustrious band of his compa- 
triots.* 

Mr. Carr's resolutions were supported successively by Mr. 
Heiuy, and Mr. Richard Henry Lee, with their usual ability. 
The reader will no doubt be gratified by a short sketch of 
this assembly, as it presented itself to a gentleman who now 
saw it for the first time, and who looked upon it with an 

* I cannot withhold from the reader the following note of this trans- 
action and of the character of Mr, Carr, from one who knew him well. 



108 W I R T S L I F E O F 

eye of taste and genius ; the writer who was then in the 
ardour of youth, and a stranger in the colony, has since been 
distinguished by holding and adorning some of the highest 
offices of the state. 

"When 1 first saw Mr. Henry, which was in March, 1773, 
he wore a peach-blossom-coloured coat and a dark wig, which 
tied behind, and I believe, a bag to it, as was the fashion of the 
day. When pointed out to me as the orator of the assembly, 

and heard this his first and last speech in the house of representatives : 
" I well rennember the pleasure expressed in the countenance and con- 
versation of the members generally, on this debut of Mr. Carr, and 
the hopes they conceived, as well from the talents as the patriotism it 
manifested. But he died within two months after, and in him we lost 
a powerful fellow-labourer. His character was of a high order : a 
spotless integrity, sound judgment, handsome imagination, enriched 
by education and reading, quick and clear in his conceptions, of correct 
and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with the sincerity of the 
heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in whatever 
he thought right : but when no moral principle was in the way, never 
had man more of the milk of human kindness, of indulgence, of soft- 
ness, of pleasantry in conversation and conduct. The number of his 
friends, and the warmth of their affection, were proofs of his worth and 
of their estimate of it. To give to those now living an idea of the 
affliction produced by his death, in the minds of all those who knew 
him, I liken it to that lately felt by themselves on the death of his 
eldest son, Peter Carr ; so like him in all his endowments and moral 
qualities, and whose recollection can never recur without a deep- 
drawn sigh from the bosom of every one who knew him." 

Extract from the Virginia Gazette, of May 29, 1773. 
"On Sunday, the 16th of May, died, at Charlotteville, in the 30th 
year of his age, Dabney Carr, esquire, attorney at law, and member 
of assembly for the county of Louisa. This excellent person possessed 
a fine genius, and a benevolent heart, with a taste for all that was po- 
lite, elegant, or social; and when occasion offered, displayed a mascu- 
line eloquence, and an undaunted love of liberty." 



PATRICK HENRY. 109 

I looked at him with no great prepossession. On the opposite 
side of the house sat the graceful Pendleton, and the harmo- 
nious Richard Henry Lee, whose aquiline nose, and Roman 
profile struck me much more forcibly than that of Mr. Henry, 
his rival in eloquence. The distance from the gallery to the 
chair, near which these distinguished members sat, did not 
permit me to have such a view of their features and counte- 
nances, as to leave a strong impression, except of Mr. Lee's, 
whose profile was too remarkable not to have been noticed at 
an even greater distance. I was then between nineteen and 
twenty, had never heard a speech in public, except from the 
pulpit — had attached to the idea I had formed of an orator, 
all the advantages of person which Mr. Pendleton possessed, 
and even more — all the advantages of voice which delighted 
me so much in the speeches of Mr. Lee — the fine polish of 
language, which that gentleman united with that harmonious 
voice, so as to make me sometimes fancy that I was listening 
to some being inspired with more than mortal powers of 
embellishment, and all the advantages of gesture which 
the celebrated Demosthenes considered as the first, second, 
and diird qualifications of an orator. I discovered neither of 
these qualifications in the appearance of Mr. Henry, or in the 
few remarks I heard him deliver during the session. It was at 
this time that Mr. Dabney Carr made a motion for appointing 
a standing committee of correspondence with the other colo- 
nies. I was not present when Mr. Henry spoke on this 
question ; but was told by some of my fellow-collegians, that 
he far exceeded Mr. Lee, whose speech succeeded the next 
day. Never before had I heard what I thought oratory ; and 
if his speech was excelled by Mr. Henry's, the latter must have 
been excellent indeed. This was the only subject that I re- 
collect, which called forth the talents of the members during 

10 



110 WIRT S LIFE OF 

that session, and there was too much unanimity to have 
ehcited all the strength of any one of them." 

My correspondent had an opportunity of seeing Mr. Henry 
not long afterward, when speaking on a subject of the high- 
est moment to the liberties of his country, and of witnessing 
that almost supernatural transformation of appearance, which 
has been already noticed as being invariably wrought by the 
excitement of his genius. We shall have his own account 
of it by and by ; and shall see that he no longer formed an 
exception to the voice of his country, in assigning the palm 
of popular eloquence to this most rare and extraordinary 
favourite of nature. \ 

It is not improbable, as it has been suggested, that the 
strongly-marked distinction of ranks which prevailed in this 
country, and the resentment, if not envy, with which the 
poorer classes looked up to the splendour and ostentation of 
the landed aristocracy, had a considerable agency in infla- 
ming Mr. Henry's hostility to the British court. He probably 
regarded the untitled nobles of Virginia as a sort of spurious 
emanation from the royal stock; connected them in his 
resentments, and transferred from the effect to the cause, the 
larger stream of his indignation. He had a rooted aversion 
and even abhorrence to every thing in the shape of pride, 
cruelty, and tyranny ; and could not tolerate that social in- 
equality from which they proceeded, and by which they were 
nourished. The principle which he seems to have brought 
with him into the world, and which certainly formed the 
guide of all his public actions, was, that the whole human 
race was one family, equal in their rights, and their birthright 
liberty. 

The elements of his character were most happily mingled 
for the great struggle which was now coming on. 'His views 



PATRICK HENRY. Ill 

were not less steady than they were bold. His vision pierced 
deeply into futurity ; and long before a whisper of independ- 
ence had been heard in this land, he had looked through the 
whole of the approaching contest, and saw, with the eye and 
the rapture of a prophet, his country seated aloft among the 
nations of the earth. A striking proof of this prescience, is 
given in an anecdote communicated to me by Mr. Pope. 
These are his words : — " I am informed by Col. John Over- 
ton, that before one drop of blood was shed in our contest 
with Great Britain, he was at Col. Samuel Overton's, in com- 
pany with Mr. Henry, Col. Morris, John Hawkins, and Col. 
Samuel Overton, when the last-mentioned gentleman asked 
Mr. Henry, ' whether he supposed Great Britain would drive 
her colonies to extremities? — And if she should, what he 
thought would be the issue of the war V When Mr. Henry, 
after looking round to see who were present, expressed him- 
self confidentially to the company in the followmg manner : — 
'She will drive us to extremities — no accommodation will 
take place — hostilities will soon commence — and a desperate 
and bloody touch it will be.' ' But,' said Col. Samuel Over- 
ton, ' do you think, Mr. Henry, that an infant nation as we 
are, without discipline, arms, ammunition, ships of war, or 
money to procure them — do you think it possible, thus cir- 
cumstanced, to oppose successfully the fleets and armies of 
Great Britain ?' ' I will be candid with you,' replied Mr. 
Herury. ' I doubt whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with 
so powerful a nation. But,' contmued he, (rising from his 
chair, with great animation,) 'where is France? Where is 
Spain ? Where is Holland ? the natural enemies of Great 
Britain. — Where will they be all this while ? Do you suppose 
they will stand by, idle and indifferent spectators to the con- 
test ? Will Louis XVI. be asleep all this time ? Believe 



112 WIRT S L IF E OF 

me, no ' When Louis XVT. shall be satisfied by our 
serious opposition, and our Declaration of Independence^ 
that all prospect of a reconciliation is gone, then, and not 
till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition, and 
clothing ; and not with these only, but he will send his 
fleets and armies to fight our battles for us ; he will form 
with us a treaty offensive and defensive, against our un- 
natural mother. Spain and Holland will join the con- 
federation ! Our independence will be established ! and 
we shall take our stand among the nations of the earth !' 
Here he ceased ; and Col. John Overton says, he shall never 
forget the voice and prophetic manner with which these pre- 
dictions were uttered, and which have been since so literally 
verified. Col. Overton says, at the word independence, the 
company appeared to be startled ; for they had never heard 
any thing of the kind before even suggested." 

It was anticipated, that the establishment of corresponding 
committees would lead eventually to a congress of the colo- 
nies, and that measure was brought about by the following 
circumstances : — 

The people of Boston having thrown into the sea a vessel 
load of tea, which was attempted to be forced upon them, 
were pvmished by an act of parliament, which shut up their 
port, from and after the first day of June, 1774. The house 
of burgesses of Virginia being in session when this act 
arrived, passed an order, which stands upon their journal in 
the following terras : — 

" Tuesday, the 2Uh of May, 14 Geo. III. 1774. 

" This house, being deeply impressed with apprehension of 
the great dangers to be derived to British America, from the 



PATRICK HENRY. ]J3 

hostile invasion of the city of Boston, in our sister-colony of 
Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the 
first day of June next, to be stopped by an armed force, deem 
it highly necessary that the said first day of June next be set 
apart, by the members of this house, as a day of fasting, hu- 
miliation, and prayer, devoutly to implore the Divine inter- 
position for averting the heavy calamity which threatens 
destruction to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war ; to 
give us one heart and one mind, firmly to oppose, by all 
just and proper means, every injmy to American rights ; 
and that the minds of his majesty and his parliament may 
be inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, 
to remove from the loyal people of America all cause of 
danger from a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with 
their ruin. 

" Ordered, therefore. That the members of this house do 
attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the forenoon, on 
the said first day of June next, in order to proceed with the 
speaker and the mace to the church in this city, for the pur- 
poses aforesaid ; and that the Reverend Mr. Price be appoint- 
ed to read prayers, and to preach a sermon suitable to the 
occasion." 

In consequence of this order, Governor Dunmore, on the 
following day, dissolved the house, with this speech : — 
X " Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the house of burgesses : 
I have in my hand a paper published by order of your house, 
conceived in such terms as reflect highly upon his majesty 
and the parliament of Great Britain, which makes it neces- 
sary to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly." 

The members immediately withdrew to the Raleigh tav- 
ern, where they formed themselves into a committee to con- 
sider of the most expedient and necessary measures to guard 
P 10* 



T 



114 WIRT S LIFE OF 

against the encroachments which so glaringly threatened 
them ; and immediately adopted the following spirited asso- 
ciation : — 

" An association, signed by 89 members of the late house 
of burgesses. We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal sub- 
jects, the late representatives of the good people of this coun- 
try, having been deprived, by the sudden interposition of the 
executive part of this government, from giving our country- 
men the advice we wished to convey to them, in a legislative 
capacity, find ourselves under the hard necessity of adopt- 
ing this, the only method we have left, of pointing out to 
our countrymen such measures as, in our opinion, are best 
fitted to secure our dear rights and liberty from destruction, 
by the heavy hand of power now lifted against North Amer- 
ica'^'/ With much grief we find, that our dutiful applications 
to Great Britain for the security of our just, ancient, and con- 
stitutional rights, have been not only disregarded, but that a 
determined system is formed and pressed, for reducing the 
inhabitants of British America to slavery, by subjecting them 
to the payment of taxes imposed without the consent of the 
people or their representatives 5,Xand that, in pursuit of this 
system, we find an act of the British parliament, lately passed, 
for stopping the harbour and commerce of the town of Bos- 
ton, in our sister-colony of Massachusetts bay, until the peo- 
ple there submit to the payment of such vmconstitutional 
taxes ; and which act most violently and arbitrarily deprives 
them of their property, in wharves erected by private persons, 
at their own gi-eat and proper expense ; which act is, in our 
opinion, a most dangerous attempt to destroy the constitu- 
tional liberty and rights of all North America. It is further 
our opinion, that as tea, on its importation into America, is 
< barged with a duty imposed by parliament, for the purpose 



PATRICK HENRY. 115 

of raising a revenue without the consent of the people, it 
ought not to be used by any person who wishes well to the 
constitutional rights and liberties of British America. And 
whereas the India company have ungenerously attempted 
the ruin of America, by sending many ships loaded with tea 
into the colonies, thereby intending to fix a precedent in fa- 
vour of arbitrary taxation, we deem it highly proper and do 
accordingly recommend it strongly to our countrymen, not to 
purchase or use any kind of East India commodity whatso- 
ever, except saltpetre and spices, until the grievances of 
America are redressed. We are further clearly of opinion, 
that an attack made on one of our sister-colonies, to compel 
submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all Brit- 
ish America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless 
the united wisdom of the whole be applied. And for this 
purpose it is recovimended to the committee of correspond- 
ence, that they communicate with their sevei'al correspond- 
ing committees, on the expediency of appointing deputies 
from the several colonies of British America, to meet in 
general congress, at such place, annually, as shall be 
thought most convenient ; there to deliberate on those general 
measures which the united interests of America may from 
time to time require. 

" A tender regard for the interest of our fellow-subjects, 
the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain, prevents 
us from going further at this time ; most earnestly hoping, 
that the unconstitutional principle of taxing the colonies with- 
out their consent will not be persisted in, thereby to compel 
us, against our will, to avoid all commercial intercourse with 
Britain, Wishing them and our people free and happy, we are 
their affectionate friends, the late representatives of Virginia. 

" The 21th day of May, VllV 



116 WIRTS LIFE OF 

To give effect to the recommendation of a congress on the 
part of this colony, delegates were shortly after elected by 
the several counties, to meet in Williamsburg on the first 
of August following, to consider further of the state of public 
affairs, and, more particularly, to appoint deputies to the gene- 
ral congress, which was to be convened at Philadelphia, on 
the 5tli of September following. The clear, firm, and ani- 
mated instructions given by the people of the several counties 
to their delegates, evince the thorough knowledge of the 
great parliamentary question which now pervaded the coun- 
try, and the determined spirit of the colonists to resist the 
claim of British taxation.* 

* The following are the Instructions from the county of Hanover : — 
To John Syme and Patrick Henry, Jun., Esquires. 

Gentlemen, 

You have our thanks for your patriotic, faithful, and spirited con- 
duct, in the part you acted in the late assembly, as our burgesses, and 
as we are greatly alarmed at the proceedings of the British parliament 
respecting the town of Boston, and the province of Massachusetts bay ; 
and as we understand a meeting of delegates from all the counties in 
this colony is appointed to be in Williamsburg on the first day of next 
month, to deliberate on our public affairs, we do hereby appoint you, 
gentlemen, our delegates ; and we do request you, then and there, to 
meet, consult, and advise, touching such matters as are most likely 
to effect our deliverance from the evils with which our country is 
threatened. 

The importance of those things which will offer themselves for your 
deliberation is exceedingly great; and when it is considered that the 
effect of the measures you may adopt will reach our latest posterity, you 
will excuse us for giving you our sentiments, and pointing out some 
particulars, proper for that plan of conduct we wish you to observe. 

We are free men ; we have a right to be so ; and to enjoy all the priv- 
ileges and immunities of our fellow-subjects in England j and while 



PATRICK HENRY. 11? 

On the first of August, accordingly, the first convention of 
Virginia delegates assembled in WiUiamsburg ; and gave 
a new proof of the invincible energy by which they were 

we retain a just sense of that freedom, and those rights and privileges 
necessary for its safety and security, we shall never give up the 
right of taxation. Let it suffice to say, once for all, we will never be 
taxed but by our own representatives : this is the great badge of 
freedom, and British America hath hitherto been distinguished by it ; 
and when we see the British parliament trampling upon that right, and 
acting with determined resolution to destroy it, we would wish to see 
the united wisdom and fortitude of America collected for its defence. 

The sphere of hfe in which we move hath not afforded us lights 
sufficient to determine with certainty, concerning those things from 
which the troubles at Boston originated. Whether the people there 
were warranted by justice, when they destroyed the tea, we know 
not ; but this we know, that the parliament by their proceedings, have 
made us and all North America parties in the present dispute, and 
deeply interested in the event of it ; insomuch, that if our sister-colony 
of Massachusetts bay is enslaved, we cannot long remain free. 

Our minds are filled with anxiety when we view the friendly re- 
gards of our parent state turned into enmity ; and those powers of 
government, formerly exerted for our aid and protection, formed into 
dangerous efforts for our destruction. We read our intended doom in 
the Boston port bill, in that for altering the mode of trial in criminal 
cases, and, finally, in the bill for altering the form of government in 
the Massachusetts bay. These several acts are replete with injus- 
tice and oppression, and strongly expressive of the future policy of 
Britain toward all her colonies ; if a full and uncontrolled operation 
is given to this detestable system in its earlier stages, it will probably 
be fixed upon us for ever. 

Let it, therefore, be your great object to obtain a speedy repeal of 
those acts : and for this purpose we recommend the adoption of such 
measures as may produce the hearty union of all our countrymen 
and sister-colonies. United we stand, divided we fall. 

To attain this wished-for union, we declare our readiness to sacri- 



118 W IK T S L I F E OF 

actuated, in a series of resolutions, whereby they pledged 
themselves to make common cause with the people of Boston 
in every extremity ; and broke off all commercial connexion 
with the mother country, until the grievances of which they 

fice any lesser interest arising from a soil, climate, situation, or pro- 
ductions peculiar to us. 

We judge it conducive to the interests of America, that a general 
congress of deputies from all the colonies be held, in order to form a 
plan for guarding the claim of the colonists, and their constitutional 
rights, from future encroachment, and for the speedy relief of our suf- 
fering brethren at Boston. For the present, we think it proper to form 
a general association against the purchase of all articles of goods im- 
ported from Great Britain, except negroes' cloths, salt, saltpetre, 
powder, lead, utensils and implements for handy-craftsmen and manu- 
facturers, which cannot be had in America ; books, paper, and the like 
necessaries ; and not to purchase any goods or merchandise that shall 
be imported from Great Britain, after a certain day that may be 
agreed on for that purpose by the said general meeting of deputies at 
Williamsburg, except the articles aforesaid, or such as shall be allow- 
ed to be imported by the said meeting ; and that we will encourage 
the manufactures of America by every means in our poAver. A regard 
to justice hinders us at this time from withholding our exports ; no- 
thing but the direct necessity shall induce us to adopt that proceed- 
ing, which we shall strive to avoid as long as possible. 
■^ The African trade for slaves we consider as most dangerous to 
the virtue and welfare of this country ; we therefore most earnestly 
wish to see it totally discouraged. 

A steady loyalty to the kings of England has ever distinguished 
our country ; the present state of things here, as well as the many 
instances of it to be found in our history, leave no room to doubt it. 
God grant that we may never see the time when that loyalty shall be 
found incompatible with the rights of freemen. Our most ardent de- 
sire is, that we and our latest posterity may continue to live under the 
genuine, unaltered constitution of England, and be subjects, in the 
true spirit of that constitution, to his majesty, and his illustrious 



PATRICKHENRY. 119 

complained should be redressed. By their last resolution they 
empowered their moderator, Mr. Peyton Randolph, or in case 
of his death, Robert C. Nicholas, esquire, on any future oc- 
casion that might in his opinion require it, to convene the 
several delegates of the colony, at such time and place as he 
might judge proper. 

They then appointed as deputies to congress on the part 
of this colony, Messrs. Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry 
Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, 
Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, and furnish- 
ed them with the following firm and spirited letter of in- 
structions : — 

" Instructions for the Deputies appointed to meet in General 
Congress, on the part of the Colony of Virginia. 

" The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her 
American colonies, which began about the third year of the 
reign of his present majesty, and since continually increas- 
ing, have proceeded to lengths so dangerous and alarming, 
as to excite just apprehensions in the minds of his majesty's 

house ; and may the Avretches who affirm that we desire the contrary, 
feel the punishment due to falsehood and villany. 

While prudence and moderation shall guide your councils, we trust, 
gentlemen, that firmness, resolution, and zeal, will animate you in the 
glorious struggle. The arm of poAver, which is now stretched forth 
against us, is indeed formidable ; but we do not despair. Our cause 
is good ; and if it is served with constancy and fidelity, it cannot fail 
of success. We promise you our best support, and we will heartily 
join in such measures as a majority of our countrymen shall adopt 
for securing the public liberty. 

Resolved, That the above address be transmitted to the printers, 

to be published in the gazettes. 

William Pollard, Clerk. 



120 WIRTSLIFEOF 

faithful subjects of the colony, that they are in danger of 
being deprived of their natural, ancient, constitutional, and 
chartered rights, have compelled them to take the same into 
their most serious consideration ; and being deprived of their 
usual and accustomed mode of making known their griev- 
ances, have appointed us their representatives, to consider 
what is proper to be done in this dangerous crisis of Ameri- 
can affairs. It being our opinion that the united wisdom of 
North America should be collected in a general congress of 
all the colonies, we have appointed the Honourable Pey- 
ton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, 
Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and 
Edmund Pendleton, esquires, deputies to represent this 
colony in the said congress, to be held at Philadelphia on the 
first Monday in September next. And that they may be 
the better informed of our sentiments touching the conduct 
•we wish them to observe on this important occasion, we 
desire that they will express, in the first place, our faith and 
true allegiance to his majesty. King George the Third, our 
lawful and rightful sovereign ; and that we are determined, 
with our lives and fortunes, to support him in the legal exer- 
cise of all his just rights and prerogatives. And, however 
misrepresented, we sincerely approve of a constitutional 
connexion with Great Britain, and wish most ardently a return 
of that intercourse of affection and commercial connexion 
that formerly united both countries ; which can only be ef- 
fected by a removal of those causes of discontent which have 
of late unhappily divided us. 

" It cannot admit of a doubt, but that British subjects in 
America are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their 
fellow-subjects possess in Britain ; and, therefore, that the 
power assumed by the British parliament to bind America 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 121 

by their statutes, in all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional, 
and the source of these unhappy differences. 

" The end of government would be defeated, by the 
British parliament exercising a power over the lives, the 
property, and the liberty of American subjects, who are not, 
and from their local circumstances cannot, be there repre- 
sented. Of this nature we consider the several acts of par- 
liament for raising a revenue in America, for extending the 
jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty, for seizing American 
subjects, and transporting them to Britain, to be tried for 
crimes committed in America, and the several late oppressive 
acts respecting the town of Boston, and province of Massa- 
chusetts bay. 

" The original constitution of the American colonies, pos- 
sessing their assemblies with the sole right of directing their 
internal polity, it is absolutely destructive of the end of their 
institution, that their legislatures should be suspended, or 
prevented, by hasty dissolutions, from exercising their legis- 
lative powers. 

" Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long' acqui- 
esced in their acts of navigation, restrictive of our commerce, 
which we consider as an ample recompense for such protec- 
tion ; but as those acts derive their efficacy from that found- 
ation alone, we have reason to expect they will be restrain- 
ed, so as to produce the reasonable purposes of Britain, and 
not be injurious to us. 

" To obtain redress of these grievances, without which the 
people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they 
are willing to undergo the great inconvenience that will be 
derived to them, from stopping all imports whatsoever from 
Great Britain, after the first day of November next, and 
also to cease exporting any commodity whatsoever to the 
Q 11 



122 WIRT S LIFE OF 

same place, after the 10th day of August, 1775. The earn- 
est desire we have to make as quick and full payment as 
possible of our debts to Great Britain, and to avoid the heavy 
injury that would arise to this country from an earlier adop- 
tion of the non-exportation plan, after the people have al- 
ready applied so much of their labour to the perfecting of 
the present crop, by wliich means they have been prevented 
from pursuing other methods of clothing and supporting 
their families, have rendered it necessary to restrain you in 
this article of non-exportation ; but it is our desire that you 
cordially co-operate with our sister-colonies in general con- 
gress, in such other just and proper methods as they, or the 
majority shall deem necessary for the accomplishment of 
these valuable ends. 

" The proclamation issued by General Gage, in the govern- 
ment of the province of the Massachusetts bay, declaring it 
treason for the inhabitants of that province to assemble them- 
selves to consider of their grievances, and form associations for 
their common conduct on the occasion, and requiring the civil 
magistrates and officers to apprehend all such persons to be 
tried for their supposed offences, is the most alarming process 
that ever appeared in a British government ; the said General 
Gage has thereby assumed and taken upon himself powers 
denied by the constitution to our legal sovereign ; he not hav- 
ing condescended to disclose by what authority he exercises 
such extensive and unheard-of powers, we are at a loss to 
determine whether he intends to justify himself as the repre- 
sentative of the king, or as the commander-in-chief of his 
majesty's forces in America. If he considers himself as act- 
ing in the character of his majesty's representative, we would 
remind him that the statute 25tli, Edward III., has expressed 
and defined all treasonable offences, and that the legislature 



PATRICK HENRY. VlUB 

of Great Britain hath declared that no offence shall be con- 
strued to be treason, but such as is pointed out by that statute ; 
and that this was done to take out of the hands of tyran- 
nical kings, and of weak and wicked ministers, that deadly 
weapon which constructive treason hath furnished them with, 
and which had drawn the blood of the best and honestest 
men in the kingdom ; and that the king of Great Britain hath 
no right by his proclamation to subject his people to unpris- 
onment, pains, and penalties. 

" That if the said General Gage conceives he is empower- 
ed to act in this manner, as the commander-in-chief of his 
majesty's forces in America, this odious and illegal procla- 
mation must be considered as a plain and full declaration 
that this despotic viceroy will be bound by no law, nor re- 
gard the constitutional rights of his majesty's subjects, when 
ever they interfere with the plan he has formed for oppres- 
sing the good people of Massachusetts bay ; and, therefore, 
that the executing, or attempting to execute, such proclama- 
tion, will justify resistance and reprisal." 

On the fourth of September, 1774, that venerable body, 
the old continental congress of the United States, (toward 
whom every American heart will bow with pious homage, 
while the name of liberty shall be dear in our land,) met for 
the first time at Carpenter's Hall, in the city of Philadelphia. 
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen president, and the 
house was organized for business with all the solemnities of 
a regular legislature.* 

The most eminent men of the various colonies were now, 

* Sallust, in his second oration to C. Cesar, De Repuhlica Ordi- 
nanda, gives a short and animated picture of their Roman ancestors, 
which, with the change of a single word, (libertate for imperio,) 



124 WIRT S LIFE OF 

for the first time, brought together. They were known to 
each other by fame ; but they were personally strangers. 
The meetmg was awfully solemn. The object which had 
called them together was of incalculable magnitude. The 
liberties of no less than three millions of people, with that of 
all their posterity, were staked on the wisdom and energy of 
their councils. No wonder, then, at the long and deep 
silence which is said to have followed upon their organiza- 
tion ; at the anxiety with which the members looked around 
upon each other ; and the reluctance which every individual 
felt to open a business so fearfully momentous. In the midst 
of this deep and deathlike silence, and just when it was 
beginning to become painfully embarrassing, Mr. Henry arose 
slowly, as if borne down with the weight of the subject. Af- 
ter faltering, according to his habit, through a most impres- 
sive exordium, in which he merely echoed back the con- 
sciousness of every other heart, in deploring his inability to 
do justice to the occasion, he launched gradually into a re- 
cital of the colonial wrongs. Rising, as he advanced, with 
the grandeur of his subject, and glowing at length with all 
the majesty and expectation of the occasion, his speech seem- 
ed more than that of mortal man. Even those who had 
heard him in all his glory, in the house of burgesses of Vir- 

describes so happily our old continental congress, that I am sure I 
shall gratify the classic reader by its insertion. 

"Itaque, majores nostri, cum bellis asperimis premerentur, equis, 
viris, pecunia amissa, nunquam defessi sunt armati de libertate con- 
tendere. Non inopia (Brarii, non vis hostium, non adversa res, in- 
gentcm eorum animum suhegit : quern, quce virtute ceperant, siinul 
cum anima retinerent. Atque ea, magis fortibus consiliis, quam 
bonis prffiliis, patrata sunt. Q,uippe apud illos, una respuhlica erat ; 
ei consulehant ; f actio, contra hastes parabatur; corpics atque 
ingenium, patrice, non sucb, quisque potenticB exercitabat." 



PATRICK HENRY. 125 

ginia, were astonished at the manner in which his talents 
seemed to swell and expand themselves, to fill the vaster 
theatre in which he was now placed. There was no rant — 
no rhapsody — no labour of the understanding — no straining 
of the voice — no confusion of the utterance. His counte- 
nance was erect — his eye, steady — his action, noble — his 
enunciation, clear and firm — his mind poised on its centre — 
his views of his subject comprehensive and great — and his 
imagination coruscating with a magnificence and a variety, 
which struck even that assembly with amazement and awe. 
He sat down amidst murmurs of astonishment and applause ; 
and as he had been before proclaimed the greatest orator of 
Virginia, he was now, on every hand, admitted to be the first 
orator of America. 

He was followed by Mr. Richard Henry Lee, who charm- 
ed the house with a (Afferent kind of eloquence — chaste — 
classical — beautiful — his polished periods rolling along with- 
out effort, filling the ear with the most bewitching harmony, 
and delighting the mind with the most exquisite imagery. 
The cultivated graces of Mr. Lee's rhetoric received and at 
the same time reflected beauty, by their contrast with the 
wild and grand effusions of Mr. Henry. Just as those noble 
monuments of art which lie scattered through the celebrated 
landscape of Naples, at once adorn, and are in their turn 
adorned by the surrounding majesty of Nature. 

Two models of eloquence, each so perfect in its kind, and 
so finely contrasted, could not but fill the house with the 
highest admiration ; and as Mr. Henry had before been pro- 
nounced the Demosthenes, it was conceded on every hand, 
that Mr. Lee was the Cicero, of America. 

11* 



SECTION IV. 

It is due, however, to historic truth to record, that the 
superior powers of these great men were manifested only in 
debate. On the floor of the house, and during the first days 
of the session, while general grievances were the topic, they 
took the undisputed lead in the assembly, and were confes- 
sedly, primi inter pares. But when called down from the 
heights of declamation, to that severer test of intellectual ex- 
cellence, the details of business, they found themselves in a 
body of cool-headed, reflecting, and most able men, by whom 
they were, in their turn, completely thrown into the shade. 

A petition to the king, an address to the people of Great 
Britain, and a memorial to the people of British America, 
were agreed to be drawn. Mr. Lee, Mr. Henry, and others, 
were appointed for the first; Mr. Lee, Mr. Livingston, and 
Mr. Jay, for the two last. The splendour of their debut 
occasioned Mr. Henry to be designated by his committee, to 
draw the petition to the king, with which they were charged ; 
and Mr, Lee was charged with the address to the people 
of England. The last was first reported. On reading it, 
great disappointment was expressed in every countenance, 
and a dead silence ensued for som.e minutes. At length, it 
was laid on the table, for perusal and consideration, till the 
next day : when first one member and then another arose, 

126 



PATRICK HENRY. 127 

and paying some faint compliment to the composition, ob- 
served that there were still certain considerations not express- 
ed, which should properly find a place in it. The address 
was, therefore, committed for amendment ; and one pre- 
pared by Mr. Jay, and offered by Governor Livingston, was 
reported and adopted, with scarcely an alteration. These 
facts are stated by a gentleman to whom they were commu- 
nicated by Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Harrison, of the Virginia 
delegation, (except that Mr. Harrison erroneously ascribed 
the draught to Governor Livingston,) and to whom they were 
afterward confirmed by Governor Livingston himself. Mr. 
Henry's draught of a petition to the king was equally unsuc- 
cessful, and Avas recommitted for amendment. Mr. John 
Dickinson (the author of the Farmer's Letters) was added 
to the committee, and a new draught, prepared by him, was 
adopted.* 

This is one of the incidents in the life of Mr. Henry to 
which an allusion was made in a former page, when it was 
observed, that notwithstanding the wonderful gifts which he 
had derived from nature, he lived himself to deplore his early 
neglect of literature. But for this neglect, that imperishable 
trophy won by the pen of Mr. John Dickinson would have 
been his ; and the fame of his genius, instead of resting on 
tradition, or the short-lived report of his present biographer, 

* The late Governor Tyler, a warm friend of Mr. Henry, used to 
relate an anecdote in strict accordance with this statement : it was, 
that after these two gentlemen had made their first speeches, Mr. 
Chase, a delegate from Maryland, walked across the house to the seat 
of his colleague, and said to him, in an under voice : " We might as 
well go home ; we are not able to legislate with these men." But that 
after the house came to descend to details, the same Mr. Chase was 
heard to remark : " Well, after all, I find these are but men — and in 
mere matters of business, but very common men.'''' 



128 WIRTS LIFE OF 

would have flourished on the immortal page of the American 
history. 

It is a trite remark, that the talents for speaking and for 
writing eminently are very rarely found united in the same 
individual ; and the rarity of the occurrence has led to an 
opinion, that those talents depend on constitutions of mind 
so widely different, as to render their union almost wholly 
unattainable. This was not the opinion, however, it is be- 
lieved, at i\.thens and at Rome : it cannot, I apprehend, be 
the opinion either in the imited kingdom of Great Britain. 
There have been, indeed, in these countries distinguished 
orators, who have not left behind them any proofs of their 
eminence in composition ; but neither have they left behind 
them any proofs of their failure in this respect : so that the 
conclusion of their incompetency is rather assumed than es- 
tablished. On the other hand, there have been, in all those 
countries, too many illustrious examples of the union of those 
talents, to justify the belief of their incongruity by any gene- 
ral law of nature. 

That there have been many eminent writers who, from 
physical defects, could never have become orators, is very 
certain : but is the converse of the proposition equally true ? 
Was there ever an eminent orator who might not, by proper 
discipline, have become, also, a very eminent writer ? What 
are the essential qualities of the orator ? Are they not judg- 
ment, invention, imagination, sensibility, taste, and expres- 
sion, or the command of strong and appropriate language ? 
If these be the qualities of the orator, it is very easy to un- 
derstand how they may be improved by the discipline of the 
closet ;* but not so easy to comprehend how they can pos- 

* Nulla enim res tantum ad dicendum proficit, quantum scriptio. — 
Cic. Brut. xxiv. 92. 



PATRICK HENRY. 129 

sibly be injured by it. Is there any danger that this disciphne 
will tame too much the fiery spirit, the enchanting wildness, 
and magnificent irregularity of the orator's genius ? The 
example of Demosthenes alone is a sufficient answer to this 
question ; and the reader will, at once, recall numerous other 
examples, corroborative of the same truth, both in ancient 
and modern times. The truth seems to be, that this rare 
union of talents results, not from any incongruity in their 
nature, but from defective education, taking this word in its 
larger, Roman sense. If the genius of the orator has been 
properly trained in his youth to both pursuits, instead of be- 
ing injured, it will, I apprehend, be found to derive additional 
grace, beauty, and even sublimity, from the discipline. His 
flights will be at least as bold — they will be better sustained 
— and whether he chooses to descend in majestic circles, or 
to stoop on headlong wing, his performance will not be the 
worse for having been taught to fly. 

For Mr. Henry and for the world, it happened unfortu- 
nately, that instead of the advantage of this Roman educa- 
tion, of which we have spoken, the years of his youth had 
been wasted in idleness. He had become celebrated as an 
orator before he had learned to compose ; and it is not there- 
fore wonderful, that when withdrawn from the kindling pres- 
ence of the crowd, he was called upon for the first time to 
take the pen, all the spirit and flam.e of his genius were ex- 
tinguished.* 

* On this subject, of the rare union of the talents of speaking and 
writing in the same man, Cicero has a parallel between Galba and 
Laelius, which is not less just than it is beautiful. After having spoken 
of Galba as one of those men of great but less cultivated natural pow- 
ers, who were afraid of lowering the fame of their eloquence by sub- 
mitting their writings to the world, he proceeds thus :-r-" Quern (Gal- 

R 



130 WIRT S LIFE OF 

But while, with reference to his own fame and the lasting 
benefits which he might have conferred on the world, we 

ham) fortasse visnon in genii solum, sed etiam animi, et naturalis 
quidam dolor dicentem incendebat, eff'eciebatque, ut et incitata, et 
g^ravis, et vehemens esset or alio : dein, cum otiostis stilmn prehen- 
derat, motusque omnis animi, tanquam ventus, hominem defecerat, 
flacessebat oratio : quod iis, qui limatius dicendi consectatitur ge- 
nus, accidere non solet, propterea qitod. priuientia nunquam dejicit 
oratorem, qua ille utens, eodem modo possit et dicere et scribere; 
ardor animi own semper adest, isque cum consedit, omnis ilia vis et 
quasi famma oratoris extingxcitur. Hanc igitur ob causam,, videtur 
LcbIH mens spirare etiam in scriptis, Galbce autem, vis occidisse." 
Brutus, xxiv. 93. There seems to have been a strong resemblance 
between the structure of Galba's eloquence and character, and those 
of Mr. Henry. In their habits, however, there was this striking dif- 
ference, that Galba's preparation for speaking was always most elabo- 
rate ; Mr. Henry's, generally, none at all. On this head, of Galba's 
anxious preparation, Cicero gives us a very interesting anecdote : 
Lselius, it seems, was engaged in a great cause, in which he spoke 
with the peculiar elegance which always distinguished him; but not 
having succeeded in convincing his judges, the case was adjourned to 
another day, and a new argument was called for. Laelius again ap- 
peared and surpassed his former exertions, but with the same result, of 
another adjournment and a call for re-argument. His clients attended 
him to his house on the rising of the court, expressed their gratitude 
in the strongest terms, and begged that he would not permit himself 
to be wearied into a desertion of them. To this Lselius answered, that 
what he had done for the support of the cause, had, indeed, been dili- 
gently and accurately performed ; but he was satisfied that that cause 
could be better defended by the more bold and vehement eloquence of 
Galba. Galba was accordingly applied to ; but was, at first, startled 
at the idea of succeeding such an orator as Laelius in any cause ; more 
especially, on the short time for preparation that was then allowed him. 
He yielded, however, to their importunities ; and employed the whole 
of the intermediate day and the morning of that in which the court 
was to sit, in studying and annotating, with the help of his amanu- 



PATRICK HENRY. 131 

lament his want of literary discipline, it is not impossible that, 
for the times in which he lived, and for the more immediate 
purpose of the American revolution, the popular opinion may 
be correct. The people seem to have admired him the more 
for his want of disciphne. " His genius," they say, " was 
mibroken, and too full of fire to bear the curb of composition. 
He delighted to swim the flood, to breast the torrent, and to 
scale the mountain : and supported as he was, in all public 
bodies, by masters of the pen, they insist, that it was even 
fortunate for the revolution, that his genius was left at large, 
to revel in all the wildness and boldness of nature ; that it 
enabled him to infuse, more successfully, his own intrepid 
spirit into the measures of the revolution ; that it rendered 
his coiurage more contagious, and enabled him to achieve, 
by a kind of happy rashness, what perhaps had been lost by 
a better regulated mind." 

But to resume our narrative : congress arose in October, 
and Mr. Henry returned to his native county. Here, as was 
natural, he was surrounded by his neighbours, who were 

ensis. When the hour of court arrived, his clients called for him, and 
Galba came out, " with that complexion and those eyes," says Cicero, 
" which would have led you to suppose that he had been engaged in 
pleading a cause, and not in studying it." Whence it appears that 
Galba was not less vehement and inflamed in meditating, than in the 
act of delivering a speech. His success was proportioned to his pre- 
paration. " In the midst of the greatest expectation, surrounded by a 
vast concourse of hearers, before Laelius himself, he plead the cause 
with so much force and so much power, that no part of his speech 
passed without applause, and his clients were discharged, with the ap- 
probation of every one." What an impression does this give us of the 
magnanimity of Laelius, as well as the abilities of Galba ! Mr. Henry 
would not have taken the trouble of Galba's preparation ; but he would 
have gained the cause, if human abilities could have gained it. 



] 32 W I R T S L I F E O F 

eager to hear not only what had been done, but what kind 
of men had composed that illustrious body. He answered 
their inquiries with all his wonted kindness and candour ; 
and having been asked by one of them, " whom he thought 
the greatest man in congress," he replied : " If you speak of 
eloquence, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, is by far the 
greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid information and 
sound judgment. Colonel Washington is, unquestionably, the 
greatest man on that floor." Such was the penetration which, 
at that early period of Mr. Washington's life, could pierce 
through his retiring modesty and habitual reserve, and esti- 
mate so correctly the unrivalled worth of his character. 

On Monday, the 20th of March, 1775, the convention of 
delegates, from the several counties and corporations of Vir- 
ginia, met for the second time. This assembly was held in 
the old church in the town of Richmond. Mr. Henry was 
a member of that body also. The reader will bear in mind, 
the tone of the instructions given by the convention of the 
preceding year to their deputies in congress. He will remem- 
ber that, while they recite with great feeling the series of 
grievances under which the colonies had laboured, and insist 
with firmness on their constitutional rights, they give, never- 
theless, the most explicit and solemn pledge of their faith and 
true allegiance to his majesty King George HI., and avow 
their determination to support him with their lives and for- 
tunes, in the legal exercise of all his just rights and preroga 
lives. He will remember, that these instructions contain also, 
an expression of their sincere approbation of a connexion 
with Great Britain, and their ardent washes for a return of 
that friendly intercourse from which this country had derived 
so much prosperity and happiness. These sentiments still 
influenced many of the leading members of the convention 



PATRICK HENRY. 133 

of 1775. They could not part with the fond hope that those 
peaceful days would again return which had shed so nmcli 
light and warmth over the land ; and the report of the 
king's gracious reception of the petition from congress tend- 
ed to cherish and foster that hope, and to render them averse 
to any means of violence. But Mr. Henry saw things with 
a steadier eye and a deeper insight. His judgment was too 
solid to be duped by appearances ; and his heart too firm 
and manly to be amused by false and flattering hopes. He 
had long since read the true character of the British court, 
and saw that no alternative remained for his country but 
abject submission or heroic resistance. It was not for a soul 
like Henry's to hesitate between these courses. He had 
oflered upon the altar of liberty no divided heart. The gulf 
of war which yawned before him was indeed fiery and fear- 
ful ; but he saw that the awful plunge was inevitable. The 
body of the convention, however, hesitated. They cast around 
" a longing, lingering look" on those flowery fields on which 
peace, and ease, and joy, were still sporting ; and it required 
all the energies of a Mentor like Henry to push them from 
the precipice, and conduct them over the stormy sea of the 
revolution, to liberty and glory. 

The convention being formed and organized for business, 
proceeded, in the first place, to express their unqualified ap- 
probation of the measures of congress, and to declare that 
they considered " this whole continent as under the highest 
obligations to that respectable body, for the wisdom of their 
counsels, and their unremitted endeavours to maintain and 
preserve inviolate the just rights and liberties of his majesty's 
dutiful and loyal subjects in America." 

They next resolve, that " the warmest thanks of the con- 
vention, and of all the inhabitants of this colony, were due, 

12 



134 WIRT S LIFE OF 

and that this just tribute of applause be presented to the 
worthy delegates, deputed by a former convention to repre- 
sent this colony in general congress, for their cheerful under- 
taking and faithful discharge of the very important trust 
reposed in them." 

The morning of the 23d of March w^as opened, by read- 
ing a petition and memorial from the assembly of Jamaica, 
to the king's most excellent majesty : whereupon it was — 
" Resolved, That the unfeigned thanks and most grateful 
acknowledgments of the convention be presented to that very 
respectable assembly, for the exceeding generous and affec- 
tionate part they have so nobly taken, in the unhappy contest 
between Great Britain and her colonies ; and for their truly 
patriotic endeavours to fix the just claims of the colonists 
upon the most permanent constitutional principles : — that the 
assembly be assured, that it is the most ardent wish of this 
colony, [and they were persuaded of the whole continent 
lof North America,] to see a speedy return of those halcyon 
days, when we lived a free and happy people." 

These proceedings were not adapted to the taste of Mr. 
Henry ; on the contrary, they were " gall and wormwood" 
to him. The house required to be wrought up to a bolder 
tone. He rose, therefore, and moved the following manly 
resolutions : — 

" Resolved, That a well-regulated militia, composed of 
gentlemen and yeomen, is the natural strength and only se- 
curity of a free government ; that such a militia in this colony 
would for ever render it unnecessary for the mother-country 
to keep among us, for the purpose of our defence, any stand- 
ing army of mercenary soldiers, always subversive of the 
quiet, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, and would 
obviate the pretext of taxing us for their support. 



PATKICK HENRY. 135 

" That the establishment of such militia is, at this timet 
peculiarly necessary, by the state of our laws, for the protec- 
tion and defence of the country, some of which are already 
expired, and others will shortly be so : and that the known 
remissness of government in calling us together in legislative 
capacity, renders it too insecure, in this time of danger and 
distress, to rely that opportunity will be given of renewing 
them, in general assembly, or making any provision to secure 
our inestimable rights and liberties, from those further vio- 
lations with xohich they are threatened. 

" Resolved, therefore. That this colony he immediately 
put into a state of defence, and that 

be a committee to prepare a plan for imbodying, armings 
and disciplining such a nujnber of men, as may be sufficient 
for that purposed 

The alarm which such a proposition must have given to 
those who had contemplated no resistance of a character 
more serious than petition, non-importation, and passive for- 
titude, and who still hung with suppliant tenderness on the 
skirts of Britain, will be readily conceived by the reflecting 
reader. The shock was painful. It Avas almost general. 
The resolutions were opposed as not only rash in policy, but 
as harsh and well nigh impious in point of feeling. Some 
of the warmest patriots of the convention opposed them. 
Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, 
who had so lately drunk of the fountain of patriotism in the 
continental congress, and Robert C. Nicholas, one of the 
best as well as ablest men and patriots in the state, resisted 
them with all their influence and abilities. 

They urged the late gxacious reception of the congression- 
al petition by the throne. They insisted that national 
comity, and much more filial respect, demanded the exercise 



136 WIRT S LIFE OF 

of a more dignified patience. That the sympathies of the 
parent-country were now on our side. That the friends of 
American hberty in parhament were still with us, and had, 
as yet, had no cause to blush for our indiscretion. That the 
manufacturing interests of Great Britain, already smarting 
under the effects of oiur non-importation, co-operated power- 
fully toward our relief. That the sovereign himself had 
relented, and showed that he looked upon our sufferings with 
an eye of pity. "Was this a moment," they asked, "to dis- 
gust our friends, to extinguish all the conspiring sympathies 
which were working in oiu: favour, to turn their friendship 
into hatred, their pity into revenge ? And what was there, 
they asked, in the situation of the colony, to tempt lis to 
this ? Were we a great military people ? Were we ready 
for war ? Where were our stores — where were our arms — 
where our soldiers — where our generals — where our money, 
the sinews of war ? They were nowhere to be found. In 
truth, we were poor — we were naked — we were defenceless. 
And yet we talk of assuming the front of war ! of assuming 
it, too, against a nation, one of the most formidable in the 
world ! A nation ready and armed at all points ! Her navies 
riding triumphant in every sea ; her armies never marching 
but to certain victory ! What was to be the issue of the 
struggle we were called upon to court ? What could be the 
issue, in the comparative circumstances of the two countries, 
but to yield up this country an easy prey to Great Britain, 
and to convert the illegitimate right which the British par- 
liament now claimed, into a firm and indubitable right, hy 
conquest ? The measure might be brave ; but it was the 
bravery of madmen. It had no pretension to the char- 
acter of prudence ; and as little to the grace of genuine 
courage. It would be time enough to resort to measures 



PATRICK HENRY. 137 

of despair, when every well-founded hope had entirely 
vanished." 

To this strong view of the subject, supported as it was by 
the stubborn fact of the well-known helpless condition of 
the colony, the opponents of those resolutions superadded 
every topic of persuasion which belonged to the cause. 

" The strength and lustre which we have derived from our 
connexion with Great Britain — the domestic comforts which 
we had drawn from the same source, and whose value we 
were now able to estimate by their loss — that ray of recon- 
ciliation which was dawning upon us from the east, and 
Avhich promised so fair and happy a day: — with this they 
contrasted the clouds and storms which the measure now 
proposed was so well calculated to raise — and in which we 
should not have even the poor consolation of being pitied by 
the world, since we should have so needlessly and rashly 
drawn them upon ourselves." 

These arguments and topics of persuasion were so well 
justified by the appearance of things, and were m.oreover so 
entirely in unison with that love of ease and quiet which is 
natural to man, and that disposition to hope for happier times, 
even under the most forbidding circumstances, that an ordi- 
nary man, in Mr. Henry's situation, would have been glad to 
compound with the displeasure of the house, by being per- 
mitted to withdraw his resolutions in silence 

Not so Mr. Henry. His was a spirit fitted to raise the 
whirlwind, as well as to ride in and direct it. His was that 
comprehensive view, that unerring prescience, that perfect 
command over the actions of men, which qualified him not 
merely to guide, but almost to create the destinies of nations. 

He rose at this time with a majesty unusual to him in an 
exordium, and with all that self-possession by which he was 
S 12* 



138 WIRT S LIFE OF 

SO invariably distinguished. " No man," he said, " thought 
more highly than he did of the patriotism, as well as abili- 
ties, of the very v^^orthy gentlemen v^rho had just addressed 
the house. But different men often saw the same subject in 
different lights ; and, therefore, he hoped it would not be 
thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining as 
he did, opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, he 
should speak forth his sentiments freely, and without reserve. 
This," he said, "was no time for ceremony. The question 
before this house was one of awful moment to the country 
For his own part, he considered it as nothing less than a 
question of freedom or slavery. And in proportion to the 
magnitude of the subject, ought to be the freedom of the 
debate. It was only in this way that they could hope to ar- 
rive at truth, and fulfd the gi-eat responsibility which they 
held to God and their country. Should he keep back his 
opmions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, he 
should consider himself as guilty of treason toward his coun- 
try, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, 
which he revered above all earthly kings." 

" Mr. President," said he, " it is natural to man to indulge 
in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against 
a painful truth — and listen to the song of that siren, till she 
transforms us into beasts. Is this," he asked, " the part of 
wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty ? 
Were we disposed to be of the number of those, who having 
eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so 
nearly concern their temporal salvation ? For his part, what- 
ever anguish of spirit it might cost, he was willing to know 
the whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it." 

" He had," he said, " but one lamp by which his feet were 
guided ; and that was the lamp of experience. He knew 



PATRICK HENRY. 139 

of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And 
judging by the past, he wished to know what there had 
been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten 
years, to justify those hopes with which gentlemen had been 
pleased to solace themselves and the house ? Is it that in- 
sidious smile with which our petition has been lately receiv- 
ed ? Trust it not, sir ; it will prove a snare to your feet. 
Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask your- 
selves how this gracious reception of our petition comports 
with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and 
darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work 
of love and reconciliation ? Have we shown ourselves so 
unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to 
win back our love ? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. 
These are the implements of war and subjugation — the last 
arguments to which kings resart. I ask gentlemen, sir, 
what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force 
us to submission ? Can gentlemen assign any other possible 
motive for it 1 Has Great Britain any enemy in this quar- 
ter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and 
armies ? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us : 
they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind 
and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry 
have been so long forging. And what have we oppose to 
them ? Shall we try argument ? Sir, we have been trying 
that for the last ten years. Have we any thing new to 
offer upon the subject 1 Nothing. We have held the sub- 
ject up in every light of which it is capable ; but it has 
been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble 
supplication ? What terms shall we find, which have ftot 
been already exhausted ? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, 
deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done every thing 



140 WIRT S LIFE OF 

that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming 
on. We have petitioned — we have remonstrated — we have 
suppHcated — we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, 
and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical 
hands of the ministry and parliament. Our petitions have 
been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced additional 
violence and insult ; our supplications have been disregard- 
ed ; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot 
of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge 
the fond hope of peace and reconcilation. There is no 
longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we 
mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for 
which we have been so long contending — if we mean not 
basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been 
so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never 
to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be 
obtained — we must fight ! — I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! ! 
An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts, is all that is 
left us !"* 

" They tell us, sir," continued Mr. Henry, " that we are 
weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But 
when shall we be stronger. Will it be the next week or 

* "Imagine to yourself," says my correspondent, (Judge Tucker.) 
" this sentence delivered with all the calm dignity of Cato, of Utica — 
imagine to yourself the Roman senate, assembled in the capitol, when 
it was entered by the profane Gauls, who, at first, were awed by their 
presence, as if they had entered an assembly of the gods ! — imagine 
that you heard that Cato addressing such a senate — imagine that you 
saw the handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar's palace — imagine 
you heard a voice as from heaven uttering the words : ' We mustjight,' 
as the doom of fate, and you may have some idea of the speaker, the 
assembly to whom he addressed himself, and the auditory, of which 
I was one." * 



PATRICK HENRY. 141 

the next year ? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, 
and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house ? 
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction ? Shall 
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying su- 
pinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of 
hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot ? 
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those 
means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. 
Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, 
and in such a country as that which we possess, are invin- 
cible by any force which our enemy can send against us. 
Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is 
a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and 
who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The 
battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the 
active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we 
were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from 
the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and 
slavery ! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be 
heard on the plains of Boston ! The war is inevitable — and 
let it come T\ I repeat it, sir, let it come I ! ! 

" It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may 
cry, peace, peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually 
begun ! The next gale that sweeps from the north will 
bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! Our breth- 
ren are already in the field ! Why stand we here idle ? 
What is it that gentlemen wish ? What would they have ? 
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the 
price of chains and slavery ? Forbid it. Almighty God ! — I 
know not what course others may take ; but as for me," 
cried he, with both his arms extended aloft, his brows knit, 
every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, 



142 WIRT S LIFE OF 

and his voice swelled to its boldest note of exclamation — 
*' give nrie liberty, or give me death I" 

He took his seat. No murmur of applause was heard. The 
effect was too deep. After the trance of a moment, several 
members started from their seats. The cry, " to arms !" 
seemed to quiver on every lip, and gleam from every eye ! 
Richard H. Lee arose and supported Mr. Henry, with his 
usual spirit and elegance. But his melody was lost amid the 
agitations of that ocean, which the master-spirit of the storm 
had lifted up on high. That supernatural voice still sounded 
in their ears, and shivered along their arteries. They heard, 
in every pause, the cry of liberty or death. They became 
impatient of speech — their souls were on fire for action.* 

The resolutions were adopted ; and Patrick Henrj^ Rich- 
ard H. Lee, Robert C. Nicholas, Benjamin Harrison, Lem- 
uel Riddick, George Washington, Adam Stevens, Andrew 

* Mr. Randolph, in his manuscript history, has given a most elo- 
quent and impressive account of this debate. Since these sheets were 
prepared for the press, and at the moment of their departure from the 
hands of the author, he has received from Chief Justice Marshall, a 
note in relation to the same debate, which he thinks too interesting to 
suppress. It is the substance of a statement made to the chief justice 
(then an ardent youth, feeling a most enthusiastic admiration of elo- 
quence, and panting for war) by his father, who was a member of this 
convention. Mr. Marshall, (the father,) after speaking of Mr. Henry's 
speech, " as one of the most bold, vehement, and animated pieces of 
eloquence that had ever been delivered," proceeded to state, that " he 
was followed by Mr. Richard H, Lee, who took a most interesting 
view of our real situation. He stated the force which Britain could 
probably bring to bear upon us, and reviewed our resources and means 
of resistance. He stated the advantages and disadvantages of both 
parties, and drew from this statement auspicious inferences. But he 
concluded with saying, admitting the probable calculations to be 
against u?, we are assured in holy writ that ' the race is not to the 



PATRICKHENRY. 143 

Lewis, William Christian, Edmund Pendleton, Thomas Jef- 
ferson, and Isaac Zane, esquires, were appointed a commit- 
tee to prepare the plan called for by the last resolution.* 

The constitution of this committee proves, that in those 
days of genuine patriotism there existed a mutual and noble 
confidence, which deemed the opponents of a measure no 
less worthy than its friends to assist in its execution. A cor- 
respondent,! who bore himself a most distinguished part in 
our revolution, in speaking of the gentlemen whom I have 
just named, as having opposed Mr. Henry's resolutions, and 
of Mr. Wythe who acted with them, says : " These were 
honest and able men, who had begun the opposition on the 
same grounds, but with a moderation more adapted to their 
age and experience. Subsequent events favoured the bolder 
spirits of Henry, the Lees, Pages, Mason, &c., with whom I 
went in all points. Sensible, however, of the importance of 
unanimity among our constituents , although we often wished 

swift, nor the battle to the strong ; and if the language of genius may 
be added to inspiration, I will say with our immortal bard : — 
' TVirice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just ! 
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, 
Whose conscience with injustice is oppress'd !' " 

* Colonel Robert Carter Nicholas (although opposed like all the 
older patriots, from the considerations which have been stated in the 
text, to resistance at this particular point of time) was, nevertheless, 
one of the firmest supporters of the principles of the revolution. As 
soon, therefore, as the measure of resistance was carried, in order to 
give to it the greatest effect, he rose and moved to change the system ; 
and, instead of arming the militia, to raise ten thousand regulars for 
the war ; but the motion was overruled. Chief Justice Marshall 
says : " I have frequently heard my father speak of Colonel Nicholas's 
motion, to raise ten thousand men for the war." 

t Mr. Jefferson. 



144 WIRTS LIFE OF 

to have gone on faster, we slackened our pace, that our less 
ardent colleagues might keep up with us ; and they, on their 
part, differing nothing from us in principle, quickened their 
gait somewhat beyond that which their prudence might, 
of itself, have advised, and thus consolidated the phalanx 
which breasted the power of Britain. By this harmony of the 
bold with the cautious, we advanced, with our constituents, 
in undivided mass, and with fewer examples of separation 
than perhaps existed in any other part of the union." 

The plan for imbodying, arming, and disciplining the mili- 
tia, proposed by the committee which has just been men- 
tioned, was received and adopted, and is in the following 
terms :• — 

" The committee propose that it be strongly recommended 
to the colony, diligently to put in execution the militia law 
passed in the year 1738, entitled, 'An act for the better regu- 
lating of the militia,' which has become in force by the expi- 
ration of all subsequent militia laws. 

" The committee are further of opinion, that as, from the 
expiration of the abovementioned laws, and various other 
causes, the legal and necessary disciplining the militia has 
been much neglected, and a proper provision of arms and 
ammunition has not been made, to the evident danger of the 
community, in case of invasion or insurrection ; that it be 
recommended to the inhabitants of the several counties of 
this colony, that they form one or more volunteer companies 
of infantry and troops of horse in each county, and to be in 
constant training and readiness to act on any emergency. 

" That it be recommended particularly to the counties 
of Brunswick, Dinwiddle, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, 
Spotsylvania, King George, and Stafford, and to all counties 
below these, that, out of such of their volunteers, they form. 



PATRICK HENRY. 145 

each of them, one or more troops of horse ; and to all the 
counties above these, it is recommended that they pay a more 
particular attention to forming a good infantry. 

" That each company of infantry consist of sixty-eight, 
rank and file, to be commanded by one captain, two lieuten- 
ants, one ensign, four sergeants, and four corporals ; and 
that they have a drummer, and be furnished with a drum 
and coloiurs ; that every man be provided with a good rifle, 
if to be had, or otherwise with a common firelock, bayonet, 
and cartouch-box, and also with a tomahawk, one pound of 
gunpowder, and four pounds of ball at least, fitted to the bore 
of his gun ; that he be clothed in a hunting-shirt, by way of 
uniform ; and that he use all endeavour, as soon as possible, 
to become acquainted with the military exercise for infantry, 
appointed to be used by his majesty in the year 1764. 

" That each troop of horse consist of thirty, exclusive 
of oflScers ; that every horseman be provided with a good 
horse, bridle, saddle, with pistols and holsters, a carbine 
or other short firelock, with a bucket, a cutting-sword or 
tomahawk, one pound of gunpowder, and four pounds of ball, 
at least ; and use the utmost diligence in training and accus- 
toming his horse to stand the discharge of firearms, and in 
making himself acquainted with the military exercise for 
cavalry. 

" That in order to make a further and more ample provis- 
ion of ammunition, it be recommended to the committees of 
the several counties, that they collect from their constituents, 
in such manner as shall be most agreeable to them, so much 
money as will be suflftcient to purchase half a pound of gun- 
powder, one pound of lead, necessary flints and cartridge- 
paper, for every titheable person in their county ; that they 
immediately take effectual measures for the procuring such 
T 13 



14€i WIRTS LIFE OF 

gunpowder, lead, flints, and cartridge-paper, and dispose 
thereof, when procured, in such place or places of safety as 
they may think best : and it is earnestly recommended to 
each individual to pay such proportion of the money neces- 
sary for these purposes, as by the respective committees shall 
be judged requisite. 

" That as it may happen that some counties, from their 
situation, may not be apprized of the m.ost certain and speedy 
method of procuring the articles before-mentioned, one gene- 
ral committee should be appointed, whose business it should 
be, to procure for such counties as may make application to 
them, such articles, and so much thereof, as the moneys 
wherewith they shall furnish the said committee will purchase, 
after deducting the charges of transportation, and other neces- 
sary expenses." 

At the same session of the convention, I find that the alert 
and inquiring spirit of Mr. Henry laid hold of another in- 
stance of royal misrule. Governor Dunmore, it seems, by a 
recent proclamation, had declared, that his majesty had given 
orders for all vacant lands within this colony to be put up in 
lots at public sale ; and that the highest bidder for such lots 
should be the purchaser thereof, and should hold the same, 
subject to a reservation of one halfpenny per acre, by way of 
annual quitrent, and of all mines of gold, silver, and precious 
stones. These terms were deemed an innovation on the es- 
tablished usage of granting lands in this colony ; and this sa- 
gacious politician saw in the proceeding, not only an usurpa- 
tion of power, but a great subduction of the natural wealth of 
the colony, and the creation, moreover, of a separate band of 
tenants and retainers, devoted to the vilest measures of the 
crown. With a view, therefore, to defeat this measure, he 
moved the following resolution, which was adopted : — 



PATRICK HENRY. 147 

" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire, 
whether his majesty may of right advance the terms of grant- 
ing lands in this colony, and make report thereof to the next 
general assembly or convention ; and that in the meantime 
it be recommended to all persons whatever, to forbear pur- 
chasing or accepting lands on the conditions before mention- 
ed." Of this committee he was of course the chairman ; and 
the other members were Richard Bland, Thomas Jefferson, 
Robert C. Nicholas, and Edmund Pendleton, esquires. 

The convention having adopted a plan for the encourage- 
ment of arts and manufactures in this colony, and reappoint- 
ed their former deputies to the continental congress, with the 
substitution of Mr. Jefferson for Mr. Peyton Randolph, in 
case of the non-attendance of the latter ;* and having also 
provided for a re-election of delegates to the next convention, 
came to an adjournment.! 

* He was speaker of the house of burgesses, a call of which was 
expected, and did accordingly take place. 

t It is curious to read in the file of papers from which the foregoing 
proceedings are extracted, and immediately following them this pro- 
clamation of his Excellency Lord Dunmore: — 

" Whereas, certain persons, styling themselves delegates of several 
of his majesty's colonies in America, have presumed, without his 
majesty's authority or consent, to assemble together at Philadelphia, in 
the months of September and October last, and have thought fit, 
among other unwarrantable proceedings, to resolve that it will be 
necessary that another congress should be held at the same place on the 
10th of May next, unless redress of certain pretended grievances be 
obtained before that time : and to recommend that all the colonies of 
North America should choose deputies to attend such congress : lam 
commanded by the king, and I do accordingly issue this my proclama- 
tion, to require all magistrates and other officers to use their utmost 
endeavours to prevent any such appointment of deputies, and to ex- 



148 PATRICK HENRY. 

hort all persons whatever within this government, to desist from such 
an unjustifiable proceeding, so highly displeasing to his majesty.'' 

This proclamation was published while the convention was in ses- 
sion, and was obviously designed to have an effect on their proceed- 
ings. It passed by them, however, " as the idle wind which they re- 
garded not." The age of proclamations was gone, and the glory of 
regal governors pretty nearly extinguished for ever. 

It ought not to be omitted, however, that this very convention pass- 
ed resolutions complimentary to Lord Dunmore, and the troops which 
he had commanded in an expedition of the preceding year against 
the Indians : a compliment which, as we shall see, was afterward 
found to be unmerited. As the resolution in regard to Lord Dunmore 
does honour to the candour of the convention, and shows also how 
little personality there was in the contest, I take leave to subjoin it : — 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the most cordial thanks of the peo- 
ple of this colony are a tribute justly due to our worthy governor. Lord 
Dunmore, for his truly noble, wise, and spirited conduct, on the late 
expedition against our Indian enemy — a conduct which at once evinces 
his excellency's attention to the true interests of this colony, and a 
zeal in the executive department which no dangers can divert, or dif- 
ficulties hinder, from achieving the most important services to the 
people who have the happiness to live under his administration." 

Lord Dunmore was not a man of popular manners ; he had nothing 
of the mildness, the purity, the benevolence and suavity of his prede- 
cessor. On the contrary, he is represented as having been rude and 
offensive ; coarse in his figure, his countenance, and his manners. Yet 
he received from the house of burgesses the most marked respect. 
Thus, in 1774, while the liberties of the colonies were bleeding at 
every pore, and while the house was smarting severely, under the re- 
cent news of the occlusion of the port of Boston, they paid to Lady 
Dunmore, who had just arrived at Williamsburg, the most cordial and 
elegant attentions, congratulated his lordship on this increase to his 
domestic felicity ; and even, after their abrupt dissolution, compli- 
mented the inhabitants of the palace with a splendid ball and enter- 
tainment, in honour of the arrival of the Countess Dunmore and her 
family. 



SECTION V. 

The storm of the revolution now began to thicken. The 
cloud of war had actually burst on the New England states, 
while as yet the middle and southern colonies were in com- 
parative repose. The calm, however, was deceitful, and of 
short duration ; and, as far as Virginia was concerned, had 
been occasioned rather by the absence of Governor Dunmore 
on an Indian expedition, than any disposition on his part to 
favour the colony. His return to Williamsburg was the 
signal for violence. 

It seems to have been a matter of concert among the colo- 
nial governors, if indeed the policy was not dictated by the 
British court, to disarm the people of all the colonies at one 
and the same time, and thus incapacitate them for united 
resistance. 

To give effect to this measure, the export of powder from 
Great Britain was prohibited ; and an attempt Avas generally 
made about the same period to seize the powder and arms 
in the several provincial magazines. Gage, the successor of 
Hutchinson in the government of Massachusetts, set the ex- 
ample, by a seizure of the ammunition and military stores at 
Cambridge, and the powder in the magazines at Charlestown, 
and other places. His example was followed by similar 
attempts in other colonies to the north. And on Thursday, 
the 20th of April, 1775, Captain Henry Collins, of the arm- 
ed schooner Magdalen, then lying at Burwell's ferry, on 
James river, came up at the head of a body of marines, 
149 13* 



150 WIRT S LIFE OF 

and, acting under the orders of Lord Dunmore, entered the 
city of Wilhamsburg in the dead of the night, and carried 
off from the public magazine about twenty barrels of pow- 
der, which he placed on board his schooner before the break 
of day. Clandestine as the movement had been, the alarm 
was given to the inhabitants early on the next morning. 
Their exasperation may be easily conceived. The town was 
in tumult. A considerable body of them flew to arms, with 
the determination to compel Capt. Collins to restore the pow- 
der. With much difficulty, however, they were restrained 
by the graver inhabitants of the town, and by the members 
of the common council, who assured them that proper meas- 
ures should be immediately used to produce a restoration of 
the powder, without the effusion of human blood. The coun- 
cil, therefore, met in their corporate character, and addressed 
the followincp letter to Governor Dunmore : — 



" To his Excellency the Right Hon. John, Earl of Dunmore, 
his majesty's lieutenant, governor-general, and commander- 
in-chief of the colony and dominion of Virginia : — The hum- 
ble address of the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common 
council of the city of Williamsburg : — 
" My Lord — We, his majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, 
the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common council of the 
city of Williamsburg, in common hall assembled, humbly 
beg leave to represent to your excellency, that the inhabitants 
of this city were this morning exceedingly alarmed by a report 
that a large quantity of gunpowder was, in the preceding night, 
while they were sleeping in their beds, removed from the 
public magazine in this city, and conveyed, under an escort 
of marines, on board one of his majesty's armed vessels lying 
at a ferry on James river. 



PATRICK HENRY. 151 

" We beg leave to represent to yoiir excellency, that, as 
the magazine was erected at the public expense of this 
colony, and appropriated to the safe-keeping of such munition 
as should be there lodged, from time to time, for the protec- 
tion and security of the country, by arming thereout such of 
the militia as might be necessary in cases of invasions and 
insurrections, they humbly conceive it to be the only proper 
repository to be resorted to in times of imminent danger. 

" We further beg leave to inform your excellency, that 
from various reports at present prevailing in different parts 
of the country, we have too much reason to believe that some 
wicked and designing persons have instilled the most diabol- 
ical notions into the minds of our slaves ; and that, therefore, 
the utmost attention to our internal security is become the 
more necessary. 

" The circumstances of this city, my lord, we consider as 
peculiar and critical. The inhabitants, from the situation of 
the magazine in the midst of their city, have for a long tract 
of time, been exposed to all those dangers which have hap- 
pened in many countries from explosions, and other acci- 
dents. They have, from time to time, thought it incumbent 
on them to guard the magazine. For their security they 
have, for some time past, judged it necessary to keep strong 
patrols on foot ; in their present circumstances, then, to have 
the chief and necessary means of their defence removed, 
cannot but be extremely alarming. 

" Considering ourselves as guardians of the city, we there- 
fore humbly desire to be informed by your excellency, upon 
what motives, and for what particular purpose, the powder 
has been carried off in such a manner ; and we earnestly 
entreat your excellency to order it to be immediately return- 
ed to the magazine." 



152 WIRT S LIFE OF 

To which his excellency returned this verbal answer : — 
" That hearing of an insurrection in a neighbouring coun- 
ty, he had removed the powder from the magazine, where 
he did not think it secure, to a place of perfect security ; and 
that, upon his luord and honour, whenever it was wanted 
on any insurrection, it should be delivered in half an hour ; 
that he had removed it in the night-time, to prevent any 
alarm, and that Captain Collins had his express commands 
for the part he had acted ; he was surprised to hear the peo- 
ple were under arms on this occasion, and that he should 
not think it prudent to put powder into their hands in such 
a situation." 

This conditional promise of the return of the powder, sup- 
ported by the influence of Mr. Peyton Randolph, Mr. Robert 
C. Nicholas, and other characters of weight, liad the effect, 
it seems, of quieting the inhabitants for that day. On the 
succeeding night, however, a new alarm took place, on a 
report that a number of armed men had again landed from 
the Magdalen, about four miles ])elow the city, with a view, 
it was presumed, of making another visit of nocturnal plunder. 
The inhabitants again flew to arms ; but, on the interposition 
of the same eminent citizens, the ferment was allayed, and 
nothing more was done than to strengthen the usual patrol 
for the defence of the city. On the next day, Saturday 
the 22d of April, when every thing was perfectly quiet. 
Lord Dunmore, with rather more heat than discretion, sent a 
message into the city, by one of the magistrates, and which 
his lordship had delivered with the most solemn assevera- 
tions, that if any insult were offered to Capt. Foy, (a British 
captain residing at the palace, as his secretary, and consider- 
ed to be the instigator of the governor to his violences,) or 
to Capt. C'ullins, he ivould declare freedom to the slaves, 



PATRICKHENRY. 153 

and lay the town in ashes ; and he added, that he could 
easily depopulate the whole country. At this time, both 
Capt. Foy and Collins were and had been continually walk- 
ing the streets, at their pleasure, without the slightest indi- 
cation of disrespect. The effect of a threat, so diabolically 
ferocious, directed towards the people who had ever shown 
him and his family such enthusiastic marks of respect and 
attention, and following so directly the plunder of the maga- 
zine, will be readily conceived. Yet it broke not out into any 
open act. His lordship remained unmolested even by a dis- 
respectful look. The augmented patrol was kept up ; but 
no defensive preparation was made by the inhabitants of 
the city. 

The transactions which were passing in the metropolis 
circulated through the country with a rapidity proportioned 
to their interest, and with this farther aggravation, which was 
also true in point of fact, that in addition to the clandestine 
removal of the powder, the governor had caused the muskets 
in the magazine to be stripped of their locks. 

In the midst of the irritation excited by this intelligence, 
came the news of the bloody battles of Lexington and Con- 
cord, resulting from an attempt of the governor-general Gage, 
to seize the military stores deposited at the latter place. 
The system of colonial subjugation was now apparent : the 
effect was instantaneous. The whole country flew to arms. 
The independent companies, formed in happier times for the 
purpose of military discipline, and under the immediate aus- 
pices of Lord Dunmore himself, raised the standard of liberty 
in every county. By the 27th of April, there was assembled 
at Fredericksburg upwards of seven hundred men well-arm- 
ed and disciplined, " friends of constitutional liberty and 
America." Their march, however, was arrested by a letter 
U 



154 WIRTSLIFEOF 

from Mr. Peyton Randolph, in reply to an express, and re 
ceived on the 29th, by ■which they were informed that the 
gentlemen of the city and neighbourhood of Williamsburg, 
had had full assurance from his excellency, that the affair of 
the powder should be accommodated, and advising that the 
gentlemen of Fredericksburg should proceed no farther. — 
On the receipt of this letter, a council was held of one hun- 
dred and two members, delegates of the provincial conven- 
tion, and officers and special deputies of fourteen companies 
of light-horse, then rendezvoused on the ground ; who, after 
the most spirited expression of their sentiments on the con- 
duct of the governor, and after giving a mutual pledge to 
be in readiness at a moment's warning, to reassemble, and 
by force of arms to defend the laws, the liberty, and rights 
of this or any sister-colony from unjust and wicked invasion, 
advised the return of the several companies to their respec- 
tive homes ; and also ordered that expresses should be de- 
spatched to the troops assembled at the Bowling Green, and 
also to the companies from Frederick, Berkley, Dunmore, 
and such other counties as were then on their march, to re- 
turn them thanks for their cheerful offers of service, and to 
acquaint them with the determination then taken. By way 
of parody on the governor's conclusion of the proclamations, 
by which he was striving to keep down the spirit of the 
country, " God save the king," the council concluded their 
address with " God save the liberties of America." 

Mr. Henry, however, was not disposed to let this incident 
pass off so lightly. His was a mind that watched events 
with the coolness and sagacity of a veteran statesman. He 
kindled, indeed, in the universal indignation which the con- 
duct of the governor was so well calculated to excite ; seeing 
clearly the inconvenience which the colony must experience 



PATRICK HENRY 155 

in the approaching contest, from the loss of even that small 
store of ammunition. This, however, was a minor object in 
his esteem. What he deemed of much higher importance 
was, that that blow, which must be struck sooner or later, 
should he struck at once, before an overwhelming force should 
enter the colony ; that that habitual deference and subjection 
which the people were accustomed to feel toward the gover- 
nor, as the representative of royalty, and which bound their 
spirits in a kind of torpid spell, should be dissolved and dis- 
sipated ; that the military resources of the country should 
be developed ; that the people might see and feel their 
strength by being brought out together : that the revolution 
should be set in actual motion in the colony ; that the martial 
prowess of the country should be awakened, and the soldiery 
animated by that proud and resolute confidence, which a suc- 
cessful enterprise in the commencement of a contest never 
fails to inspire. These sentiments were then avowed by him 
to two confidential friends ;* to whom he farther declared 
that he considered the outrage on the magazine a most for- 
tunate circumstance ; and as one which would rouse the peo- 
ple from north to south, " You may in vain talk to them," 
said he, " about the duties on tea, &c. These things will 
not affect them. They depend on principles too abstracted 
for their apprehension and feeling. But tell them of the rob- 
bery of the magazine, and that the next step will be to dis- 
arm them, you bring the subject home to their bosoms, and 
they will be ready to fly to arms to defend themselves." 

To make of this circumstance all the advantage which 
he contemplated, as soon as the intelligence reached him 

* Col. Richard Morris and Captain George Dabney ; on the 
authority of Mr. Dabney. 



156 WIRT S LIFE OF 

from Williamsburg, he sent express riders to the members of 
the Independent Company of Hanover, who were dispersed 
and resided in different parts of the country, requesting them 
to meet him in arms, at New Castle, on the second of May, 
on business of the highest importance to American liberty. 
In order to give greater dignity and authority to the decisions 
of that meeting, he convoked to the same place the county 
committee. When assembled, he addressed them with all 
the powers of his eloquence ; laid open the plan on which 
the British ministry had fallen to reduce the colonies to sub- 
jection, by robbing them of all the means of defending their 
rights ; spread before their eyes, in colours of vivid descrip- 
tion, the fields of Lexington and Concord, still floating with 
the blood of their countrymen, gloriously shed in the general 
cause ; showed them that the recent plunder of the magazine 
in Williamsburg was nothing more than a part of the gene- 
ral system of subjugation ; that the moment was now come 
in which they were called upon to decide, whether they 
chose to live free, and hand down the noble inheritance to 
their children, or to become hewers of wood, and dravi^ers of 
water to those lordlings, who were themselves the tools of a 
corrupt and tyrannical ministry — he painted the country in a 
state of subjugation, and drew such pictures of wretched de- 
basement and abject vassalage, as filled their souls with hor- 
ror and indignation — on the other hand, he carried them, by 
the powers of his eloquence, to an eminence like Mount Pis- 
gah ; showed them the land of promise, which was to be won 
by their valour, under the support and guidance of Heaven ; 
and sketched a vision of America, enjoying the smiles of 
liberty and peace, the rich productions of her agriculture 
waving on every field, her commerce whitening every sea, 
in teints so bright, so strong, so glowing, as set the souls of 



PATRI CK HENRY. 157 

his hearers on fire. He had no doubt, he said, that that God, 
who in former ages had hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he 
might show forth his power and glory in the redemption of 
his chosen people, had, for similar purposes, permitted the 
flagrant outrages which had occurred in Williamsburg, and 
throughout the continent. It was for them now to deter- 
mine, whether they were worthy of this divine interference ; 
whether they would accept the high boon now held out to 
them by Heaven — that if they would, though it might lead 
them through a sea of blood, they were to remember that the 
same God whose power divided the Red sea for the deliver- 
ance of Israel, still reigned in all his glory, unchanged and 
unchangeable — was still the enemy of the oppressor, and the 
friend of the oppressed — that he would cover them from their 
enemies by a pillar of cloud by day, and guide their feet 
through the night by a pillar of fire — that for his own part, 
he was anxious that his native county should distinguish 
itself in this grand career of liberty and glory, and snatch the 
noble prize which was now offered to their grasp — that no 
time was to be lost — that their enemies in this colony were 
now few and weak — that it would be easy for them, by a 
rapid and vigorous movement, to compel the restoration of 
the powder which had been carried oif, or to make a reprisal 
on the king's revenues in the hands of the receiver-general, 
which would fairly balance the account — that the Hanover 
volunteers would thus have an opportunity of striking the 
first blow in this colony, in the great cause of American 
liberty, and would cover themselves with never-fading laurels. 
These were heads of his harangue. I presume not to 
give the colouring. That was Mr. Henry's own, and beyond 
the power of any man's imitation. The effect, however, was 
equal to his wishes. The meeting was in a flame, and a 

14 



158 WIRT S LIFE OF 

decision immediately taken, that the powder should be re- 
trieved, or counterbalanced by a reprisal. 

Capt. Samuel Meredith, who had heretofore commanded 
the Independent Company, resigned his commission in Mr. 
Henry's favour, and the latter gentleman was immediately 
invested with the chief command of the Hanover volunteers. 
Mr. Meredith accepted the commission of lieutenant ; and 
the present Col. Parke Goodall was appointed the ensign of 
the company. Having received orders from the committee, 
correspondent with his own suggestions, Capt. Henry forth- 
with took up his line of March for Williamsburg. Ensign 
Goodall was detached, with a party of sixteen men, to cross 
the river into King William county, the residence of Richard 
Corbin, the king's receiver-general ; to demand from him 
three hundred and thirty pounds, the estimated value of the 
powder ; and, in the event of his refusal, to make him a 
prisoner. He was ordered, in this case, to treat his person 
with all possible respect and tenderness, and to bring him to 
Doncastle's ordinary, about sixteen miles above Williams- 
burg, where the ensign was required, at all events, to rejoin 
the main body. The detachment, in pursuance of their or- 
ders, reached the residence of the receiver-general some hours 
after bedtime, and a guard was stationed around the house 
until morning. About daybreak, however, the ladies of the 
family m.ade their appearance, and gave the commanding 
officer of the detachment the firm and correct assurance, that 
Col. Corbin was not at home ; but that the house, neverthe- 
less, was open to search, if it was the pleasure of the officer 
to make it. The manner of the assurance, however, was 
too satisfactory to render this necessary, and the detachment 
hastened to form the junction with the main body which had 
been ordered. 



PATRICK HENRY, 159 

In the meantime, the march of his gallant corps, in arms, 
headed by a man of Mr. Henry's distinction, produced the 
most striking effects in every quarter. Correspondent com- 
panies started up on all sides, and hastened to throw them- 
selves under the banners of Henry. It is believed that five 
thousand men at least, were in arms, and were crossing the 
country to crowd around his standard, and support it with 
their lives. The march was conducted in the most perfect 
order, and with the most scrupulous respect to the country 
through which they passed. The ranks of the royalists 
were filled with dismay. Lady Dunmore, with her family, 
retired to the Fowey man of war, then lying off the town of 
Little York. Even the patriots in Williamsburg were daunt- 
ed by the boldness, and, as they deemed it, the rashness of 
the enterprise. Messenger after messenger was despatched 
to meet Mr. Henry on the way, and beg him to desist from 
his purpose, and discharge his men. It was in vain. He 
was inflexibly resolved to effect the purpose of his expedition, 
or to perish in the attempt. The messengers were therefore 
detained, that they might not report his strength ; and the 
march was continued wdth all possible celerity. The gov- 
ernor issued a proclamation, in which he denounced the 
movement, and called upon the people of the country to 
resist it. He could as easily have called " spirits from the vasty 
deep." He seems not to have relied much, himself, on the 
efficacy of his proclamation. The palace was therefore filled 
with arms, and a detachment of marines ordered up from the 
Fowey. Before daybreak, on the morning of the 4th of 
May, Captain Montague, the commander of that ship, land- 
ed a party of men, with the following letter, addressed to 
the Honourable Thomas Nelson, the president of his ma- 
jesty's council : — 



160 WIRT'S LIFE OF 

''Fowey, May 4th, 1775. 
" Sir, 

" I have this morning received certain information that his 
excellency Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, is threaten- 
ed with an attack at daybreak, this morning, at his palace 
in Williamsburg, and have thought proper to send a detach- 
ment from his majesty's ship under my command, to sup- 
port his excellency : therefore strongly pray you to make use 
of every endeavour to prevent the party from being molested 
and attacked, as in that case I must be under a necessity to 
fire upon this tow^n. From 

" George Montague." 

Lord Dunmore, however, thought better of this subject, 
and caused Mr. Henry to be met at Doncastle's, about sun- 
rise on the same morning, with the receiver-general's bill of 
exchange, for the sum required. It was accepted as a satis- 
faction for the powder, and the following receipt was passed 
by Mr. Henry : — 

"Doncastle's Ordinary, New Kent, May 4:, 1775. — Receiv- 
ed from the Hon. Richard Corbin, Esq., his majesty's receiver- 
general, 330/. as a compensation for the gunpowder lately 
taken out of the public magazine by the governor's order ; 
which money I promise to convey to the Virginia delegates at 
the general congress, to be, under their direction, laid out 
in gunpowder for the colony's use, and to be stored as they 
shall direct, until the next colony convention, or general 
assembly; unless it shall be necessary, in the meantime, to 
use the same in the defence of this colony. It is agreed, that 
in case the next convention shall determine that any part of 



PATRICK HENRY. 161 

the said money ought to be returned to his majesty's said 
receiver-general, that the same shall be done accordingly. 

" Patrick Henry, jun. 
"Test — Samuel Meredith, 
Parke Goodall." 

The march of the marines from the Fowey had, however, 
produced the most violent commotion both in York* and 

* " The town of York being somewhat alarmed by a letter from 
Captain Montague, commander of his majesty's ship the Fowey, ad- 
dressed to the Hon. Thomas Nelson, esquire, president of his ma- 
jesty's council in Virginia; and a copy of said letter being procured, 
a motion was made, that the copy should be laid before the committee, 
and considered. The copy was read, and is as follows : — 

" ' Foxoey, May 4, 1775. 
" ' Sir, 

" ' I have this morning received certain information that his excel- 
lency the Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, is threatened with an 
attack at daybreak this morning, at his palace in Williamsburg, and 
have thought proper to send a detachment from his majesty's ship 
under my command to support his excellency; therefore, strongly pray 
you to make use of every endeavour to prevent the party from being 
molested and attacked, as in that case I must be under the necessity 
to fire upon this town. From George Montague. 

" ' To the Hon. Thomas Nelson.^ 

" The committee, together with Capt. Montague's letter taking into 
consideration the time of its being sent, which was too late to permit 
the president to use his influence, had the inhabitants been disposed 
to molest and attack the detachment ; and further considering that 
Col. Nelson, who, had this threat been carried into execution, must 
have been a principal sufferer, was at that very moment exerting his 
utmost endeavours in behalf of government, and the safety of his ex- 
cellency's person, unanimously come to the following resolutions : — 

" Resolved, That Capt. Montague, in threatening to fire upon a 
defenceless town, in case of an attack upon the detachment, in which 
X 14* 



162 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Williamsburg, Mr. Henry himself seemed to apprehend that 
the public treasury would be the next object of depredation, 
and that a pretext would be sought for it in the reprisal 
which had just been made. He therefore addressed, from 
Doncastle's, the following letter to Robert Carter Nicholas, 
esquire, the treasurer of the colony : — 

''May 4, 1775. 
" Sir, 

" The affair of the powder is now settled, so as to produce 
satisfaction to me, and I earnestly wish to the colony in gene- 
ral. The people here have it in charge from Hanover com- 
mittee, to tender their service to you, as a public officer, for 
the purpose of escorting the public treasury to any place in 
this colony, where the money would be judged more safe 
than in the city of Williamsburg. The reprisal now made 
by the Hanover volunteers, though accomplished in a man- 
ner less liable to the imputation of violent extremity, may 
possibly be the cause of future injury to the treasury. If, 
therefore, you apprehend the least danger, a sufficient guard 
is at your service. I beg the return of the bearer may be 

said town might not be concerned, has testified a spirit of cruehy un- 
precedented in the annals of civilized times ; that, in his late notice to 
the president, he has added insult to cruelty; and that, considering 
the circumstances already mentioned, of one of the most considerable 
inhabitants of said town, he has discovered the most hellish princi- 
ples that can actuate a human mind. 

" Resolved, That it be recommended to the inhabitants of this town, 
and to the country in general, that they do not entertain or show any 
other mark of civility to Capt. Montague, besides what common de- 
cency and absolute necessity require. 

" Resolved, That the clerk do transmit the above proceedings to 
the public printers, to be inserted in the Virginia gazettes. 
(A true copy.) 

" William Russell, Clk. Com." 



PATRICK HENRY. 163 

instant, because the men wish to know their destination. 
With great regard, I am, sir, your most humble servant, 

" Patrick Henry, jun." 

To this letter an answer was received from Mr. Nicholas, 
importing that he had no apprehension of the necessity, or 
'propriety of the proffered service : and Mr. Henry under- 
standing, also, that the private citizens of Williamsburg were 
in a great measure quieted from their late fears for their per- 
sons and property, judged it proper to proceed no farther. 
Their expedition having been crowned with success, the 
volunteers returned in triumph to their respective homes. 
The committee of Hanover again met ; gave them their 
warmest thanks for the vigour and propriety with which they 
had conducted the enterprise ; and returned their acknow- 
ledgments, in suitable terms, to the many volunteers of the 
different counties, who joined and were marching, and ready 
to co-operate with the volunteer company of Hanover. 

Two days after the return of the volunteers, and when all 
was again quiet, the governor thundered the following ana- 
thema from the palace : — 

" By his excellency, the Right Hon. John, Earl of Dun- 
more, his majesty's lieutenant and governor-general of the 
colony and dominion of Virginia, and vice-admiral of the 
same : — 

"a proclamation. 

* Virginia, to wit : — 

" Whereas, I have been informed, from undoubted authority, 
that a certain Patrick Henry, of the county of Hanover, 
and a number of deluded . followers, have taken up arms. 



164 WIRT'S LIFE OF 

chosen their officers, and styhng themselves an Independent 
Company, have marched out of their county, encamped and 
put themselves in a posture of war ; and have written and 
despatched letters to divers parts of the country, exciting 
the people to join in these outrageous and rebellious prac- 
tices, to the great terror of all his majesty's faithful subjects, 
and in open defiance of law and government ; and have 
committed other acts of violence, particularly in extorting 
from his majesty's receiver-general the sum of three hundred 
and thirty pounds, under pretence of replacing the powder I 
thought proper to order from the magazine : whence it unde- 
niably appears, that there is no longer the least security for 
the lile or property of any man ; wherefore I have thought 
proper with the advice of his majesty's council, and in his 
majesty's name, to issue this my proclamation, strictly char- 
ging all persons upon their allegiance, not to aid, abet, or give 
countenance to the said Patrick Henry, or any other persons 
concerned in such unwarrantable combinations ; but, on the 
contrary, to oppose them and their designs by every means ; 
which designs must otherwise inevitably involve the whole 
country in the most direful calamity, as they will call for the 
vengeance of offended majesty, and the insulted laws, to be 
exerted here to vindicate the constitutional authority of gov- 
ernment. 

" Given under my hand and the seal of the colony, at 
Williamsburg, this 6th day of May, 1775, and in the 
15th year of his majesty's reign. 

"DUNMORE. 

" God save the king." 

But Lord Dunmore's threats and denunciations had no 
other effect than to render more conspicuous and more hon- 



PATRICK HENRY. 165 

curable the man who was the object of them. Mr. Henry, 
who had been on the pohit of setting out for congress at the 
time when he had been called off by the intelligence from 
Williamsburg, now resumed his journey, and was escorted 
in triumph by a large party of gentlemen, as far as Hooe's 
ferry, on the Potomac. Messengers were sent after him 
from all directions, bearing the thanks and the applauses of 
his assembled countrymen, for his recent enterprise ; and in 
such throngs did these addresses come, that the necessity of 
halting to read and answer them converted a journey of one 
day into a triumph of many. Thus, the same man, whose 
genius had in the year 1765 given the first political impulse 
to the revolution, had now the additional honour of heading 
the first military movement in Virginia, in support of the 
same cause. 



SECTION VI. 

I CANNOT learn that Mr, Henry distinguished himself 
peculiarly at this session of congress. The spirit of resistance 
was sufficiently excited ; and nothing remained but to organ- 
ize that resistance, and to plan and execute the details 
which were to give it effect. In business of this nature, Mr. 
Henry, as we have seen, was not efficient. It has been al- 
ready stated that he was unsuccessful in composition, of 
which much was done, and eminently done, at this session ; 
and the lax habits of his early life had implanted in him an 
insuperable aversion to the drudgery of details. He could not 
endure confinement of any sort, nor the labour of close and 
solitary thinking. His habits were all social, and his mind 
delighted in unlimited range. His conclusions were never 
reached by an elaborate deduction of thought ; he gained 
them as it were per saltum ; yet with a certainty not less 
infallible than that of the driest and severest logician. It is 
not wonderful, therefore, that he felt himself lost amid the 
operations in which congress was now engaged, and that 
he enjoyed the relief which was afforded him, by a military 
appointment from his native state. It will be proper, how- 
ever, to explain particularly the proceedings which led to 
this incident in the life of Mr. Henry. 

Shortly after the affair of the gunpowder. Lord North's 
conciliatory proposition, popularly called the Olive Branch, 



PATRICK HENRY. 167 

arrived in America. Hereupon the governor of Virginia 
called a meeting of the house of burgesses ; and as if the 
quarrel were now completely over, Lady Dunmore and her 
family returned fiom the Fowey to the palace* 

On Thursday, the first of June, the general assembly, ac- 
cording to the proclamation of Lord Dunmore, met at the 
capitol in the city of Williamsburg. He addressed them 
with great earnestness on the alarming state of the colony ; 
and exhibited the conciliatory proposition of the British 
ministry, as an advance on the part of the mother-country, 
which it was the duty of the colonists to meet with gratitude 

* If an estimate may be formed from the newspapers of the day, into 
which the people seem to have poured their feelings without reserve, 
that lady was eminently a favourite in this colony. Her residence 
here had been short; yet the exalted virtues which marked her char- 
acter, and those domestic graces and attractions which shone with the 
more lustre by contrast with his lordship, had already endeared her to 
the people ; and would have consecrated her person, and those of her 
children, amid the wildest tumult to which this colony could possibly 
be excited. The people had been extremely Avounded by her late de- 
parture for the Fowey : they considered it as a measure of his lord- 
ship, and as an unjust reflection both upon the judgment and generos- 
ity of the people of this country. They had told him intelligibly 
enough, that they had formed a much more correct estimate of her 
worth than he himself appeared to have done ; and that so far from 
her being insecure in the bosom of a people who thus admired, re- 
spected, and loved her, his lordship would have acted much more 
wisely to have kept her near his person, and covered himself under 
the sacred shield which sanctified her in the eyes of Virginians. In 
proportion to their regret and mortification at lier departure, was the 
ardour of delight with which they hailed her return. A paragraph in 
Purdie's paper assured her, that "her arrival at the palace was to the 
great joy of the citizens of Williamsburg, and of the people of the 
whole country, who had the most unfeigned regard and affection for 
her ladyship, and wished her long to live amongst them." 



168 WIRTSLIFEOF 

and devotion. The council answered him in a manner per- 
fectly satisfactory ; but before he could receive the ansvirer of 
the house of burgesses, an incident occurred, which drove 
his lordship precipitately from his palace, and terminated for 
ever all friendly relations between himself and the people of 
Virginia. 

It seems, that during the late ferment, produced by the 
removal of the powder, and while Mr. Henry was on hisS 
march toward Williamsburg, some of the inhabitants of the 
town, to the great offence of the graver citizens, had pos- 
sessed themselves of a few of the guns which still remamed 
in the magazine. This step gave great displeasure as well 
as alarm to the governor; and although the mayor and 
council, as well as all the more respectable inhabitants of 
the town, condemned it in terms as strong as his own, and 
sincerely united in the means which were used to recover 
the arms, yet his lordship continued to brood over it in secret, 
until, with the aid of the minions of the palace, he hatched a 
scheme of low and cruel revenge, sufficient of itself to cover 
him with immortal infamy. It was on Monday night, the 
5th of June, that this scheme discovered itself. " Last 
Monday night," says Purdie, "an unfortunate accident hap- 
pened to two persons of this city, who, with a number of 
others, had assembled at the magazine, to furnish themselves 
with arms. Upon their entering the door, one of the guns, 
which had a spring to it, and was charged eight fingers deep 
with swan-shot, went off, and lodged two balls in one of their 
shoulders, another entered at his wrist, and is not yet extract- 
ed : the other person had one of his fingers shot off, and 
the next to it so much shattered as to render it useless, by 
which sad misfortune he is deprived of the means of procur- 
ing a livelihood by his business. Spring-gims, it seems, were 



PATRICK HENRY. 169 

placed at other parts of the magazine, of which the public 
were totally ignorant; and certainly had any person lost 
his life, the perpetrator or perpetrators of this diabolical in- 
vention might have been justly branded w^ith the opprobri- 
ous title of murderers. tempora ! mores !" 

The indignation naturally excited by this piece of delibe- 
rate and barbarous treachery, which was at once traced to 
Lord Dunmore, was farther aggravated by a discovery that 
several barrels of powder had been buried in the magazine, 
with the purpose, it was reasonably conjectured, of being 
used as a mine, and thus producing still m.ore fatal destruc- 
tion, when the occasion should offer. Early on the next morn- 
ing. Lord Dunmore with his family, including Captain Foy, 
fled from the palace to return to it no m.ore, and took shelter 
on board the Fowey, from the vengeance which he knew 
he so justly deserved. No commotion, however, had ensued 
to justify his retreat. The people, indeed, were highly in- 
dignant, but they were silent and quiet. The suggestions 
of his lordship's conscience had alone produced his flight. 
He left behind him a message to the speaker and house of 
burgesses, in which he ascribed this movement to appre- 
hensions for his personal safety ; stated that he should fix 
his residence on board the Fowey ; that no interruption 
should be given to the sitting of the assembly ; that he 
should make the access to him easy and safe ; and thought 
it would be more agreeable to the house to send to him, from 
time to time, one or more of their members, as occasion 
might require, than to put the whole body to the trouble of 
moving to be near him. 

On receiving this message, the house immediately resolved 
itself into a committee of the whole, and prepared an an- 
swer, in which they expressed their deep concern at the step 
Y 15 



170 WIRTSLIFEOF 

which he had taken — assuring him that his apprehensions 
of personal danger were entirely unfounded ; regretting that 
he had not expressed them to the house previous to his de- 
parture, since, from their zeal and attachment to the preser- 
vation of order and good government, they should have judged 
it their indispensable duty to have endeavoured to remove 
any cause of disquietude. They express the anxiety with 
which they contemplate the very disagreeable situation of 
his most amiable lady and her family, and assure him, that 
they should think themselves happy in being able to restore 
their perfect tranquillity, by removing all their fears. They 
regret his departure and the manner of it, as tending to keep 
up the great uneasiness which had of late so unhappily pre- 
vailed in this country ; and declare that they will cheerfully 
concur in any measure that may be proposed, proper for the 
security of himself and his family ; they remind him how 
impracticable it will be to carry on the business of the session 
with any tolerable degree of propriety, or with that despatch 
which the advanced season of the year required, whilst his 
lordship was so far removed from them, and so inconven- 
iently situated ; and conclude with entreating him, that he 
Avould be pleased to return with his lady and family to the 
palace, which they say, they are persuaded will give the 
greatest satisfaction, and be the most likely means of quiet- 
ing the minds of the people. 

This communication was carried down to him by a depu- 
tation of two members of the council, and four of the house 
of burgesses ; and in reply to language so respectful, and as- 
surances so friendly and conciliatory, his lordship returned 
an answer in which he charged them with having slighted 
his offers of respect and civility, with giving countenance to 
the violent and disorderly proceedings of the people, and 



PATRICK HENRY. 171 

with a usurpation of the executive power in ordering and 
appointing guards to mount in the city of WilHamsburg, 
with the view, as was pretended, to protect the magazine, 
but which might well be doubted, as there then remained 
nothing therein which required being gu.arded; he exhorts 
them to return within the pale of their constitutional power ; 
to redress the many grievances which existed ; to open the 
courts of justice ; to disarm the independent companies , 
and what was not less essential, by their own example, and 
every means in their power, to abohsh the spirit of persecu- 
tion which pursued, with menaces and acts of oppression, all 
his majesty's loyal and orderly subjects. For the accomplish- 
ment of which ends, he invited them to adjourn to the town 
of York, opposite to which the Fowey lay, where he promis- 
ed to meet and remain with them till their business should 
be finished. But with respect to their entreaty that he would 
return to the palace, he represents to them that unless they 
closed in with the conciliatory proposition now offered to 
them by the British parliament, his return to Williamsburg 
would be as fruitless to the people, as possibly it might be dan- 
gerous to himself. So that he places the event of his return- 
ing, on their acceptance of Lord North's offer of concili- 
ation. 

The house of burgesses now took up thai proposition ; and 
having examined it in every light, with the utmost attention, 
they conclude with a firm and dignified rejection of it, and 
an appeal "to the even-handed justice of that Being who 
doth no wrong ; earnestly beseeching him to illuminate the 
councils, and prosper the endeavours, of those to whom 
America had confided her hopes, that, through their wise 
direction, we may again see reunited the blessings of liberty 



172 W I R T S L I F E O F 

and prosperity, and the most permanent heirmony with Great 
Britain."* 

A correspondence on another topic was now opened be- 
tween the council and burgesses, and the governor, Dunmore. 
The former addressed him with a request, that he would 
order a large parcel of arms which he had left in the palace 
to be removed to the public magazine, a place of greater 
safety. This he peremptorily refused ; and ordered that those 
arms, belonging to the king, should not be touched without 
his express permission. In their reply, they say, that the arms 
may in some sort be considered as belonging to the king, 
as the supreme head of the government, and that they were 
properly under his lordship's direction ; yet, they humbly 
conceived, tliat they were originally provided, and had been 
preserved for the use of the country in cases of emergency. 
The palace, they say, had indeed been hitherto much re- 
spected, but not so much out of regard to the building, as the 
lesidence of his majesty's representative. Had his lordship 
thought fit to remain there, they would have had no appre- 
hensions of danger ; but considering these arnis at present as 
exposed to his lordship's servants, and every rude invader, 
the security derived from his lordship's presence could not 
now be relied on. They, therefore, again entreat him to 
order the rem.oval of the arms to the magazine. They then 
proceed to state, that they cannot decline representing to 
him, that the important business of the assembly had been 
much impeded by his excellency's removal from the palace — 
that this step had deprived them of that free and necessary 

* This vigorous and eloquent production is from the same pen which 
drew the declaration of American Independence. 



PATRICK HENRY. 173 

access to his lordship, to which they were entitled by the con- 
stitution of the country — that there were several bills of the 
last importance to the country, now ready to be presented to 
his excellency for his assent. They complain of the incon- 
venience to which they had been put in sending their mem- 
bers twelve miles to wait on his excellency, on board of one 
of his majesty's ships of war, to present their addresses — they 
state that they think it would be highly improper, and too 
great a departure from the constitutional and accustomed 
mode of transacting business, to meet his excellency at any 
other place than the capitol, to present such bills as were 
ready for his signature — and, therefore, beseech him to return 
for this purpose. 

To all this he gave a very short answer; thai, as to the 
arms, he had already declared his intention, and conceived 
they were meddling with a subject which did not belong to 
them ; he desired to know whom they designed by the term 
rude invader ; that the disorders in Williamsburg and other 
parts of the country, had driven him from the palace ; and 
that, if any inconvenience had arisen to the assembly on that 
account, he was not chargeable with it ; that they had not 
been deprived of any necessary or free access to him ; that 
the constitution undoubtedly vested him with the power of 
calling the assembly to any place in the colony, which ex- 
igency might require ; that not having been made acquainted 
with the whole proceedings of the assembly, he knew of no 
bills of importance, which, if he were inclined to risk his 
person again among the people, the assembly had to present 
to him, nor whether they were such as he could assent to. 

In the course of their correspondence he required the 
house to attend him on board the Fowey, for the purpose of 

15* 



174 WIRT S LIFE OF 

obtaining his signature to the bills ; and some of the mem- 
bers to prevent an actual dissolution of the government, and 
to give effect to the many necessary bills v^fhich they had 
passed, proposed to yield to this extraordinary requisition. 
The project, however, was exploded by a member's rising 
in his place, and relating the fable of the sick lion and the 
fox. 

The governor having thus virtually abdicated his office, 
the government was, in effect, dissolved. The house here- 
upon resolved, " That his Lordship's message, requiring the 
house to attend him on board one of his majesty's ships of 
war, is a high breach of the rights and privileges of this 
house." — " T!iat the unreasonable delays thrown into the 
proceedings of this house by the governor, and his evasive 
answers to the sincere and decent addresses of the represent- 
atives of the people, give us great reason to fear, that a dan- 
gerous attack may be meditated against the unhappy people 
of this colony." — " It is, therefore, our opinion, they say, that 
they prepare for the preservation of their property, and their 
inestimable rights and liberties with the greatest care and at- 
tention." — " That we do and will bear faith and true alle- 
giance to our most gracious sovereign, George III., our 
only lawful and rightful king : that we will, at all times, to 
the utmost of our power, and at the risk of our lives and 
properties, maintain and defend his government in this colony, 
as founded on the established laws and principles of the 
constitution : that it is our most earnest desire to preserve 
and strengthen those bonds of amity, with all our fellow- 
subjects in Great Britain, which are so very essential to the 
prosperity and happiness of both countries." Having adopt- 
ed these resolutions without a dissenting voice, they adjourn- 



PATRICK HENRY. 175 

ed themselves to the 12th of October following; and the 
delegates were summoned to meet in convention at the town 
of Richmond, on the 17th of July.* 

Immediately on the adjournment of the house of burgesses, 
a very full meeting of the citizens of Williamsburg convened, 
on the call of Peyton Randolph, at the court-house in that 
city, " to consider of the expediency of stationing a number 
of men there for the public safety ; as well to assist the citi- 
zens in their nightly watches, as to guard against any sur- 
prise from our enemies ; whereupon it was unanimously 
agreed (until the general convention should meet) to invite 
down from a number of counties, to the amount of two hun- 
dred and fifty men. Meanwhile, until they arrived, the 
neighbouring counties, they say, were kind enough to lend 
them their assistance. 

On the 29th of June, the Fowey ship, and Magdalen 
schooner, sailed from York ; on board the latter went Lady 
Dunraore, and the rest of the governor's family, bound for 
England ; and the colony was for a short time relieved by 
the report that the Fowey carried Lord Dunmore and Cap- 
tain Foy on a visit to General Gage, at Boston. This re- 
port, however, was unfounded. The Fowey merely escorted 
the Magdalen to the Capes, and then returned again to her 
moorings, before York. The Otter sloop of war, commanded 
by Captain Squire, thereupon fell down to the mouth of York 

* On this occasion, Richard H. Lee, standing with two of the bur- 
gesses in the porch of the capitol, inscribed with his pencil on a pillar 
of the capitol, these prophetic lines, from Shakspeare : — 
" When shall we three meet again ? 
In thunder, lightning, and in rain ; 
When the hurly-burly's done, 
When the battlers lost and won" 



176 WIRT S LIFE OF 

river, with the intention of cruising along the coast, and seiz- 
ing all provision vessels ; and soon became distinguished at 
least for the malignity of her attempts. The Fowey was 
relieved by the ship Mercury, of 24 guns, John Macartney, 
commander, and departed for Boston, carrying with her the 
now obnoxious Captain Foy. The governor's domestics left 
the palace, and removed to his farm at Montibello, about six 
miles below Williamsburg ; and the governor himself fixed 
his station at the town of Portsmouth. In this posture of 
things, on Monday, the 24th of July, 1775, the colonial con- 
vention met at the city of Richmond. 

The proceedings of this convention were marked by a 
character of great decision and vigour. One of their first 
measures was an ordinance for raising and imbodying a 
sufficient force for the defence and protection of the colony. 
By this ordinance it was provided, that two regiments of 
regulars, to consist of one thousand and twenty privates, rank 
and file, should be forthwith raised and taken into the pay 
of the colony ; and a competent regular force was also pro- 
vided for the protection of the western frontier. The whole 
colony was divided into sixteen military districts ; with a 
provision, that a regiment of six hundred and eighty men, 
rank and file, should be raised on the eastern shore district, 
and a battalion of five hundred in each of the others ; to be 
forthwith armed, trained, furnished with all military accou- 
trements, and ready to march at a minute's warning. 

A committee, called the committee of safety, was also 
organized, with functions and powers analogous to those of 
the executive department, and apparently designed to supply 
the vacancy occasioned by the governor's abdication of that 
branch of the government. 

The convention now proceeded to the appointment of 



PATRICK HENRY. 177 

oflEicers to command the regular forces. The lofty stand 
which Mr. Henry had taken m the American cause, his in- 
creasing popularity, and the prompt and energetic movement 
which he had made in the affair of the gunpowder, brought 
him strongly before the view of the house ; and he was elect- 
ed the colonel of the first regiment, and the commander of 
all the forces raised, and to he raised, for the defence of 
the colony. Mr. William Woodford, who is said to have 
distinguished himself in the French and Indian war, was 
appointed to the command of the second regiment. 

The place of rendezvous for the troops was the city of 
Williamsburg. Mr. Henry was at his post on the 20th of 
September, examining the grounds adjacent to the city, for 
the purpose of selecting an encampment ; and the place 
chosen was at the back of William and Mary college. The 
troops were recruited and poured in with wonderful rapidity. 
The papers of the day teem with the annunciation of com- 
pany after company, both regulars and minute-men, with 
the highest encomiums on the appearance and spirit of the 
troops ; and had the purpose been offensive war. Col. Henry 
was soon in a situation to have annihilated any force that 
Lord Dunmore could at that time have arrayed against 
him. But there was, in truth, something extremely singular 
and embarrassing in the situation of the parties in regard to 
each other. It was not war, nor was it peace. The very 
ordmance by which these troops were raised, was filled with 
professions of allegiance and fidelity to George III, — pro- 
fessions, whose sincerity there is the less reason to doubt, be- 
cause they are confined to the exercise of his constitutional 
powers, and stand connected with an expression of their firm 
determination to resist any attempt on the liberties of the 
country. The only intelligible purpose, therefore, for which 
Z 



178 WIRT S LIFE OF 

these troops were raised, was a preparation for defence ; and 
for defence against an attempt to enforce the parliamentary 
taxes upon this colony. With respect to Lord Dunmore, he 
was indeed considered as having abandoned the duties of his 
office : yet still he was regarded as the governor of Virginia ; 
and there seems to have been no disposition to offer violence 
to his person. 

Dunmore, on his part, considered the colony as in a state 
of open and general rebellion ; not merely designing to resist 
an attempt to enforce upon them an obnoxious tax, but to 
subvert the regal government wholly and entirely; and had his 
power been equal to his wishes, there is no reason to doubt 
that he would have disarmed the colony, and hung up with- 
out ceremony, the leaders of this traitorous revolt, as he af- 
fected to consider it. His impotence, however, and the aver- 
sion of the colonists to act otherwise than defensively, pro- 
duced a suspense full of the most painful anxiety. 

In the meantime, Capt. Squire, commander of his ma- 
jesty's sloop the Otter, had been labouring throughout the 
summer with some success, to change the defensive attitude 
of the colony. He was engaged in cruising continually in 
James and York rivers, plundering the defenceless shores, 
and carrying off the slaves, wherever seduction or force could 
place them in his power. These piratical excursions had 
wrought up the citizens who were not in arms to a very 
high pitch of resentment ; and an accident soon gave them 
an opportunity of partial reprisal, which they did not fail to 
seize. On the 2d of September, the captain, sailing in a 
tender, on a marauding expedition from James to York river, 
was encountered by a violent tempest, and his tender was 
driven on shore, upon Back river, near Hampton. It was 
night, and the storm still raging : — the captain and his men. 



PATRICK HENRY. 179 

distrusting (unjustly, as it would seem from the papers) the 
hospitality of the inhabitants, made their escape through the 
woods ; the vessel was on the next day discovered and burnt 
by the people of the neighbourhood. In consequence of this 
act, the captain addressed the following letter to the commit- 
tee of the town of Hampton : — 

" Otter sloop, Norfolk river, Sept. 10, 1775. 
" Gentlemen. 

" Whereas, a sloop tender, manned and armed in his ma- 
jesty's service, was, on Saturday the 2d instant, in a violent 
gale of wind, cast on shore in Back river, Elizabeth county, 
having on board the under-mentioned king's stores, which 
the inhabitants of Hampton thought proper to seize : I am 
therefore to desire, that the king's sloop, with all the stores 
belonging to her, be immediately returned ; or the people of 
Hampton, who committed the outrage, must be answerable 
for the consequences. 

" I am, gentlemen, your humble servant, 

"Matthew Squire." 

This letter, with a catalogue of the stores, having been 
communicated to the committee of Williamsburg, and by 
them having been laid before the commanding officer of the 
volunteers of that place, Major James Innes, at the head of a 
hundred men, who courted the enterprise, flew to Hampton 
to repel the threatened invasion. Squire, however, satisfied 
himself for the present, by falling down to Hampton road, 
where he seized the passage boats, with the negroes in them, 
by way of reprisal, as he alleged, for the stores, &c., taken 
out of his tender when driven ashore in the late storm ; 
" which boats and negroes," adds Purdie's paper of the day, 



180 WIRT's LIFE OF 

" it is likely he intends taking into the king's service, to send 
out a pirating for hogs, fowls, &c. A very pretty occupation 
for the captain of one of his majesty's ships of war." The 
next paper announces the movements of Squire by a para- 
graph, which I extract verbatim, as showing in an amusing 
light, the spirit of the times, and as Camden says, " the plain 
and jolly mirth of our ancestors," even in the midst of mis- 
fortunes : — " We hear that the renowned Captain Squire, of 
his majesty's sloop Otter, is gone up the bay for Baltimore in 
Maryland; on his old trade, it is to be presumed, of negro- 
catching, pillaging the farms and plantations of their stock 
and poultry, and other illustrious actions, highly becoming 
a Squire in the king's navy. Some say, his errand was to 
watch for a quantity of gunpowder intended for this colony ; 
but that valuable is now safely landed where he dare not 
come to S7nell it." 

The same paper contains the following answer from the 
committee of Hampton to Squire's letter : — 

f 
"To Matthew Squire, Esq., commander of his majesty's 
sloop Otter, lying in Hampton roads. 

"Hampton, September 16, 1775. 
« Sir, 

"Yours of the 10th instant, directed to the committee of 
the town of Hampton, reciting, that a sloop tender on his 
majesty's service was, on the 2d instant, cast on shore near 
this place, having on board some of the king's stores, which 
you say were seized by the inhabitants, and demanding an 
immediate return of the same, or that the people of Hamp- 
ton must answer the consequences of such outrage, was this 



PATRICK HENRY. 181 

day laid before them, who knowing the above recital to be 
injurious and untrue, think proper here to mention the facts 
relative to this matter. The sloop, we apprehend, was nut 
in his majesty's service, as we are well assured that you were 
on a pillaging or pleasuring party ; and although it gives us 
pain to use indelicate expressions, yet the treatment received 
from you calls for a state of facts, in the simple language 
of truth, however harsh it may sound. To your own heart 
we appeal for the candour with which we have stated them 
— to that heart which drove you into the woods in the most 
tempestuous weather, in one of the darkest nights, to avoid 
the much injured and innocent inhabitants of this county, 
who had never threatened or ill used you — and who would 
at that time have received you, we are assured, with human- 
ity and civility, had you made yourself and situation known 
to them. Neither the vessel nor stores were seized by 
the inhabitants of Hampton ; the gunner, one Mr. Gray — 
and the pilot, one Mr. Ruth — who were employed by you 
on this party, are men, we hope, who will still assert the 
truth. From them, divers of our members were informed that 
the vessel and stores, together with a good seine, (which you, 
without cause, so hastily deserted,) were given up as irrecov- 
erably lost, by the officers, and some of the proprietors, to 
one Finn, near whose house you were driven on shore, as 
a reward for his entertaining you, &;c., with respect and 
decency. 

" The threats of a person whose conduct hath evinced 
that he was not only capable, but desirous of doing us, in 
our then defenceless state, the greatest injustice, we confess, 
were somewhat alarming; but with the greatest pleasure 
we can inform you, our apprehensions are now removed. 

" Although we know that we cannot legally be called to 

16 



182 WIRT S LIFE OF 

account for that which you are pleased to style an outrage, 
and notwithstanding we have hitherto, by you, been treated 
with iniquity, we will, as far as in our power lies, do you 
right upon just and equitable terms. 

" First. We, on behalf of the community, require from 
you the restitution of a certain Joseph Harris, the property 
of a gentleman of our town, and all other our slaves whom 
you may have on board ; which said Harris, as well as other 
slaves, hath been long harboured, and often employed, with 
your knowledge, (as appeared to us by the confession of 
Ruth and others, and is well known to all your men,) in 
pillaging us, under cover of night, of our sheep and other 
live stock. 

" Secondly. We require that you will send on shore all 
boats, with their hands, and every other thing you have 
detained on this occasion. 

" And lastly. That you shall not, by your own arbitrary 
authority, undertake to insult, molest, interrupt, or detain, 
the persons or property of any one passing to and from this 
town, as you have frequently done for some time past. 

" Upon complying with those requisitions, we will endeav- 
our to procure every article left on our shore, and shall be 
ready to deliver them to your pilot and gunner, of whose 
good behaviour we have had some proofs. 

We are, &c. 
" The Committee of Elizabeth City county, 
and toion of HamptonP 

In the meantime, Squire's threat against Hampton was 
not an empty one, as is proven by the following account of 
the attempt to execute it : the article is extracted from a sup- 
plement to Purdie's paper of October 27th, 1775 : — 



PATRICK HENRY. 183 

" After Lord Dunmore, with his troops and the navy, had 
been for several weeks seizing the persons and property of his 
majesty's peaceable subjects in this colony — On Wednesday 
night last, a party from an armed tender landed near Hamp- 
ton, and took away a valuable negro slave and a sail from 
the owner. Next morning there appeared off the mouth of 
Hampton river, a large armed schooner, a sloop, and three 
tenders, with soldiers on board, and a message was received 
at Hampton from Captain Squire, on board the schooner, 
that he would that day land and bum the town ; on which 
a company of regulars, and a company of minute-men,* who 
had been placed there in consequence of former threats de- 
nounced against that place, made the best disposition to pre- 
vent their landing, aided by a body of militia who were sud- 
denly called together on the occasion. The enemy accord- 
ingly attempted to land, but were retarded by some boats 
sunk across the channel for that purpose. Upon this they 
fired several small cannon at the provincials without any 
effect, who in return discharged their small arms so effect- 
ually, as to make the enemy move off, with the loss of 
several men, as it is believed. But they had, in the mean- 
time burnt down a house belonging to Mr. Cooper, on the 
river. On intelligence of this reaching Williamsburg, about 
nine o'clock at night, a company of riflemen was despatched 
to the aid of Hampton, and the colonel of the 2d regiment 
sent to take the command of the whole ; who with the 

* Captain George Nicholas commanded the regulars, and Captain 
Lyne the minute-men ; Captain Nicholas, therefore, as being in the 
regular service, had the command of the whole in the first skirmish. 
This gentleman was the eldest son of Colonel Robert C. Nicholas; 
and on the return of peace became highly distinguished both as a 
politician and lawyer. 



184 WIRTSLIFEOF 

company, arrived about eight o'clock next morning. The 
enemy had in the night cut through the boats sunk, and 
made a passage for their vessels, which were drawn close up 
to the town, and began to fire upon it soon after the arrival of 
the party from Williamsburg; but as soon as our men 
were so disposed as to give them a few shot, they went off 
so hastily that our people took a small tender, with five white 
men, a woman, and two slaves, six swivels, seven muskets, 
some small arms, a sword, pistols, and other things, and sev- 
eral papers belonging to Lieutenant Wright, who made his 
escape by jumping overboard and swimming away with 
Mr. King's man, who are on shore, and a pursuit it is hoped 
may overtake them. There were two of the men in the 
vessel mortally wounded ; one is since dead, and the other 
near his end. Besides which, we are informed, nine were 
seen to be thrown overboard from one of the vessels. We 
have not a man even wounded. The vessels went over to 
Norfolk, and we are informed the whole force from thence is 
intended to visit Hampton this day. If they should, we hope 
our brave troops are prepared for them ; as we can with 
pleasure assure the public, that every part of them behav- 
ed with spirit and bravery, and are wishing for another 
skirmish." 

The next paper contains the following card to Captain 
Squire, which is inserted merely as another specimen of the 
character of the times : — 

Williamsburg, November 3d. 
" The riflemen and soldiers of Hampton desire their com- 
pliments to Captain Squire and his squadron, and wish to 
know how they approve the reception they met last Friday. 
Should he incline to renew his visit, they will be glad to see 



PATRICK HENRY. 185 

him ; otherv;ise, in point of complaisance, they will be under 
the necessity of returning the visit. If he cannot find the 
ear that was cut off, they hope he will wear a wig to hide 
the mark ; for perhaps it may not be necessary that all 
should know chance had effected that which the lav)s ought 
to have done." 

In the meantime, Lord Dunmore, with a motley band of 
tories, negroes, and recruits from St. Augustine's, was " cut- 
ting such fantastic capers" in the country round about Nor- 
folk, as made it necessary to crush him or drive him from the 
state. With this view, the committee of safety (who, by their 
constitution, were authorized to direct all military movements) 
detached Colonel Woodford, at the head of about eight 
hundred men to cross James river at Sandy Point, and go in 
pursuit of his lordship. Colonel Henry himself had been anx- 
ious for this service, and is said to have solicited it in vain. 
But the committee of safety* seem to have distrusted too 
much his want of military experience, to confide to him so 
important an enterprise. The disgust which Mr. Henry had 

* The committee of safety was composed of the following gentle- 
men : — Edmund Pendleton, George Mason, Hon. John Page, Richard 
Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, Wil- 
liam Cabell, Carter Braxton, James Mercer, and John Tabb, esquires. 

The clause of the ordinance of convention which authorized this 
committee to direct all military movements, is the following: — 

" And whereas it may be necessary for the public security, that the 
forces to be raised by virtue of this ordinance should, as occasion may 
require, be marched to different parts of the colony, and that the offi- 
cers should be subject to a proper control, Be it ordained by the au- 
thority aforesaid. That the officers and soldiers under such command 
shall in all things, not otherwise particularly provided for by this ordi- 
nance, and the articles established for their regulation, be under the 
control, and subject to the order of the general committee of safety." 
2A 16* 



186 WIRT S LIFE OF 

conceived at the palpable reflection on his military capacity 
was increased by Colonel Woodford's refusal to acknowledge 
his superiority in command. This gentleman, after his de- 
parture from Williamsburg, on the expedition against Dun- 
more, considered himself as no longer under Mr. Henry's 
authority ; and consequently addressed all his communica- 
tions to the convention when in session, and when not so, 
to the committee of safety. On the 6th December, 1775, 
Mr. Heiu-y sent an express to Col. Woodford, with the fol- 
lowing letter : — 

" On Virginia service. 

" To William Woodford, Esq., colonel of the second regi- 

giment of the Virginia forces. 

" Headquarters, Dec. 6, 1775. 
" Sir, 

" Not hearing of any despatch from you for a long time, 
I can no longer forbear sending to know your situation, and 
what has occurred. Every one, as well as myself, is vastly 
anxious to hear how all stands with you. In case you think 
any thing could be done to aid and forward the enterprise 
you have in hand, please to write it. But I wish to know 
your situation, particularly with that of the enemy, that the 
whole may be laid before the convention now here. The 
number and designs of the enemy, as you have collected it, 
might open some prospects to us, that might enable us to 
form some diversion in your favour. The bearer has orders 
to lose no time, and return with all possible haste. I am, 
sir, your most humble servant, 

" P. Henry, jun. 
"P. S. Captain Alexander's company is not yet come. 
" Col. Woodford." 



PATRICK HENRY. 187 

To this letter, on the next day, he received the following 
answer from Col. Woodford : — 

" Great Bridge, 7th Dec, 1775. 
" Sir, 

" I have received yours per express ; in answer to which 
must inform you, that, understanding you were out of town, 
I have not written you before last Monday, by the return of 
the honourable the convention's express, when I referred you 
to my letter to them for every particular respecting mine 
and the enemy's situation. I wrote them again yesterday 
and this morning, which no doubt they will commvmicate to 
you, as commanding officer of the troops at Williamsburg. 
When joined, I shall always esteem myself immediately un- 
der your command, and will obey accordingly ; but when 
sent to command a separate and distinct body of troops, under 
the immediate instructions of the committee of safety — when- 
ever that body or the honourable convention is sitting, I look 
upon it as my indispensable duty to address my intelligence 
to them, as the supreme power in this colony. If I judge 
wrong, I hope that honourable body will set me right. I would 
wish to keep up the greatest harmony between us, for the 
good of the cause we are engaged in ; but cannot bear to be 
supposed to have neglected my duty, when I have done 
every thing I conceived to be so. The enemy are strongly 
fortified on the other side the bridge, and a great number of 
negroes and tories with them ; my prisoners disagree as to 
the numbers. We are situate here in mud and mire, expos- 
ed to every hardship that can be conceived, but the want of 
provisions, of which our stock is but small, the men suffer- 
ing for shoes ; and if ever soldiers deserved a second blanket 
in any service, they do in this ; our stock of ammunition 



188 WIRT S LIP^ E OF 

much reduced, no bullet-moulds that were good for any 
thing sent to run up our lead, till those sent the other 
day by Mr. Page. If these necessaries and better arms had 
been furnished in time for this detachment, they might have 
prevented much trouble and great expense to this colony. 
Most of those arms I received the other day from Williams- 
burg are rather to be considered as lumber, than fit to be put 
in men's hands, in the face of an enemy : with much repair, 
some of them will do ; with those, and what I have taken 
from the enemy, hope to be better armed in a few days. I 
have written to the convention, that it was my opinion, the 
greatest part of the first regiment ought immediately to 
march to the scene of action with some cannon, and a supply 
of ammunition, and every other necessary for war that the 
colony can muster, that a stop may be put to the enemy's 
progress. As to the Carolina troops and cannon, they are by 
no means what I was made to expect : 60 of them are here, 
and 100 will be here to-morrow ; more, it is said, will follow 
in a few days, under Col. Howe ; badly armed, cannon not 
mounted, no furniture to them. How long these people will 
choose to stay, it is impossible for me to say; 99 in 100 of 
these lower people rank tories. From all these informations, 
if you can make a diversion in my favour, it will be of ser- 
vice to the colony, and very acceptable to myself and soldiers; 
whom, if possible, I will endeavour to keep easy under their 
hard duty, but begm to doubt whether it will be the case 
long." 

In two days after the receipt of this letter, came the news 
of the victory of the Great Bridge, by which Col. Woodford 
at once threw into the shade the military pretensions of all 
the other state officers ; a circumstance not very well cal- 
culated to gild the pill of contumacy, which he had just pre- 



PATRICK HENRY. 189 

senled to the commander-in-chief. The committee of safety 
had now a dehcate part to act between these two officers ; 
they were extremely anxious to avoid the decision of the 
question which had arisen between them, seeing very dis- 
tinctly that their decision could not but disappoint very pain- 
fully that gentleman who was their favourite officer. They 
seem to have been apprehensive that Col. Woodford would 
be led, by that decision, to resign in disgust ; and were justly 
alarmed at the idea of losing the services of so valuable an 
officer, especially after the distinction which he had recently 
gained at the Great Bridge. Mr. Henry, however, insisted 
that the committee or convention should determine the ques- 
tion, as being the only way to settle the construction of his 
commission. It was accordingly taken up, and decided by 
the following order of the committee : — 

" In committee — December, mdgclxxv. 

" Resolved, unanimously. That Colonel Woodford, although 
acting upon a separate and detached command, ought to cor- 
respond with Colonel Henry, and make returns to him at 
proper times of the state and condition of the forces under 
his command ; and also that he is subject to his orders, when 
the convention, or the committee of safety, is not sitting, but 
that while either of those bodies are sitting, he is to receive 
his orders from one of them." 

The address which was thought necessary in communi- 
cating this resolution to Colonel Woodford, is a proof of the 
very high estimate in which he was held by the committee ; 
and the same evidence furnishes very decisive proof that 
Colonel Henry had not owed his military appointment to the 
suffiraffe of those members of the committee who maintained 



190 WIRT S LIFE OF 

the correspondence. Thus, on the 13th of December, 1775, 
a member of the convention addressed a letter to Colonel 
Woodford, which seems to have been a preparative for the 
resolution of the committee, and is certainly suited, with great 
dexterity, to that object ; the writer, after some introductory 
observations, says ; — " Whether you are obliged to make your 
returns to Colonel H — y, and to send your despatches through 
him to the convention and committee of safety, and also from 
those bodies through him to you, must depend upon the or- 
dinance and the commission he bears. You will observe 
his commission is strongly worded, beyond what I believe 
was the intention of the person who drew it* — but the ordi 

* The committee appointed to draw up and report the forms of 
commissions, for the officers of the troops to be raised by order of the 
convention of the summer of 1775, were, Mr. Banister, Mr. Lawson, 
Mr. Walkins, and Mr. Holt ; and on the 26th of August, 1775, Mr 
Banister from this committee reported the following : — 

•" Form of a commission for the colonel of the first regiment^ and 
commander of the regular forces. 

"The committee of safety for the colony of Virginia, to Patrick 
Henry, Esq. 

" Whereas, by a resolution of the delegates of this colony, in con- 
vention assembled, it was determined that you, the said Patrick Henry, 
Esq., should be colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and com- 
mander-in-chief of all the forces to be raised for the protection and 
defence of this colony ; and by an ordinance of the same convention 
it is provided, that the committee of safety should issue all military 
commissions : Now, in pursuance of the said power to us granted, 
and in conformity to the appointment of the convention, we, the said 
committee of safety, do constitute and commission you, the said Pat- 
rick Henry, Esq., colonel of the first regiment of regulars, and com- 
mander-in-chief of all such other forces as may, by order of the 
convention, or committee of safety, be directed to act in conjunction 



PATRICK HENRY. 191 

nance, I think, clearly gives the convention, and committee 
of safety acting under their authority, the absolute direction 
of the troops. The dispute between you must be occasioned, 
I suppose, (for I have not seen your letter to the colonel,) by 
disregard of liim as a commander, after the adjournment of the 
committee of safety, and before the meeting of the conven- 
tion ; at which time, I am apt to think, though I am not 
military man enough to determine, your correspondence 
should have been with him as commanding officer. I have 
talked with Colonel Henry about this matter ; he thinks he 
has been ill-treated, and insists the officers under his com- 
mand shall submit to his orders. I recommended it to him 
to treat the business with caution and temper ; as a difference 

with them; and with the said forces, or any of them, you are hereby 
empowered to resist and repel all hostile invasions, and quell and sup- 
press any insurrections which may be made or attempted against the 
peace and safety of this his majesty's colony and dominion. And we 
do require you to exert your utmost efforts for the promotion of disci- 
pline and order among the officers and soldiers under your command, 
agreeable to such ordinances, rules, and articles, which are now or 
hereafter may be, instituted for the government and regulation of the 
army ; and that you pay due obedience to all orders and instructions, 
which, from time to time, you may receive from the convention or 
committee of safety ; to hold, exercise, and enjoy, the said office of 
colonel and commander-in-chief of the forces, and to perform and 
execute the power and authority aforesaid, and all other things which 
are truly and of right incidental to your said office, during the pleasure 
of the convention, and no longer. And we do hereby require and 
command all ojjicers and soldiers, and every person whatsoever, in 
any way concerned, to be obedient and assisting to you in alt 
things, touching the due execution of this commission^ according to 
the 'purport or intent thereof. 

" Given under our hands at this day of , Anno 

Dom. 177 ." 



192 W IRT S LIFE OF 

at this critical moment between our troops would be attended 
with the most fatal consequences ; and took the liberty to 
assure him you would, 1 was certain, submit to whatever 
was thought just and reasonable. He has laid the letter 
before the committee of safety, whose sentiments upon the 
subject I expect you must have received before this. I hope 
it will not come before us,* but from what Colonel Henry 
said, he intimated it must, as it could be no otherwise deter- 
mined. My sentiments upon that delicate point, I partly 
communicated upon the expected junction of the Carolina 
troops with ours, which I presume you have received. By 
your letter yesterday to the president, I find you agree with 
me. I very cordially congratulate you on the success at the 
Bridge and the reduction of the fort, which will give our 
troops the benefit of better and more wholesome ground. 
Your letter came to the convention just time enough to read 
it before we broke up, as it was nearly dark ; it was however 
proposed and agreed, that the president should transmit you 
the approbation of your conduct in treating with kindness 
and humanity the unfortunate prisoners ; and that your 
readiness to avoid dispute about rank with Colonel Howe, 
they consider as a further mark of your attachment to the 
service of your country. I have had it in contemplation 
paying you a visit, but have not been able to leave the con- 
vention, as many of our members are absent, and seem to 
be in continual rotation, some going, others returning. We 
shall raise many more battalions, and, as soon as practi- 
cable, arm some vessels. A commander or general, I sup- 
pose, will be sent us by the congress, as it is expected our 
troops will be upon continental pay. I pray God to protect 
you, and prosper all your endeavours." 

* The convention. 



PATRICK HENRY. 193 

But the letter from the chairman of the committee, which 
enclosed the resolution, is a masterpiece of address, so far 
as relates to the feelings of Col. Woodford ; though certainly 
not well judged to promote the permanent harmony of those 
officers, by inspiring sentiments of respect and subordination 
for the superior. The letter bears date on the 24th of Decem- 
ber, 1775 ; it is written in a strain of the most frank and 
conciliatory friendship — full of deserved eulogy on Colonel 
Woodford's conduct — and very far from complimentary to 
the colonel of the first regiment. In relation to this gentle- 
man, (after having mentioned the resolution of raising other 
regiments,) he says: — "The field-officers to each regiment 
will be named here, and recommended to congress ; in case 
our army is taken into continental pay, they will send com- 
missions. A general officer will be chosen there, I doubt not, 
and sent us ; with that matter, I hope we shall not viter 
meddle, lest it should be thovght propriety requires our 
calling or rather recommending our present first officer to 
that station. Believe me, sir, the unlucky step of calling that 
gentleman from our councils, where he was useful, into the 
field, in an important station, the duties of which he must, in 
the nature of things, be an entire stranger to, has given me 
many an anxious and uneasy moment. In consequence of 
this mistaken step, which cannot now be retracted or remedied, 
for he has done nothing worthy of degradation, and must 
keep his rank, we must be deprived of the service of some 
able officers, whose honour and former ranks will not suffer 
them to act under him in this juncture, when we so much need 
their services ; however, I am told, that Mercer, Buckner, 
Dangerfield, and Weedon, will serve, and are all thought of. 
I am also told, that Mr. Thurston and Mr. Millikin are can- 
didates for regiments : the latter, I believe, will raise, and have 
2 B 17 



194 WIRT S LIFE OF 

a German one. In the course of these reflections, my great 
concern is on your account. The pleasure I have enjoyed 
in finding your army conducted with wisdom and success, 
and your conduct meet with the general approbation of the 
convention and country, makes me more uneasy at a thought 
that the country should be deprived of your services, or you 
made uneasy in it, by any untoward circumstances. J had seen 
your letter to our friend Mr. Jones, (now a member of the com- 
mittee of safety,) and besides that, Col. Henry has laid before 
the committee your letter to him, and desired our opinion, 
whether he was to command you or not. We never deter- 
mined this till Friday evening ; a copy of the resolution I en- 
close you. If this will not be agreeable, and prevent future 
disputes, 1 hope some happy medium will be suggested to 
effect the purpose, and make you easy ; for the colony cannot 
part with you, while troops are necessary to be continued." 
Mr. Henry had too much sagacity not to perceive the light 
in which he was viewed by the committee of safety, and too 
much sensibility not to be wounded by the discovery. His 
situation was indeed, at this time, most painfvilly embarras- 
sing. The rank which he had held was full of the promise 
of honour and distinction ; he was the first officer of the 
Virginia forces ; the celebrity which he had already attained 
among his countrymen, not only by his political resistance 
to the measures of the British parliament, but by the bold 
and daring military enterprise which he had headed the pre- 
ceding year, in the affair of the gunpowder, led his country- 
men to expect, that the appointment which he now held 
would not be a barren one, but that he would mark it with 
the characters of his extraordinary genius, and become as 
distinguished in the field as he had been in the senate. He 
knew that these expectations were entertained, and had 



PATRICK HENRY. 195 

every disposition to realize them ; but his wishes and his 
iopes were perpetually overruled by the committee of safety, 
who commanded over him, and who gratuitously distrusting 
his capacity for war, would give him no opportunity of mak- 
ing trial of it. Yet Mr. Henry, untried, has been most 
unjustly slighted as a soldier, and spoken of as a mere mili- 
tary cipher ! If I have not been misinformed, some of those 
who composed this very committee did, in aftertimes, fre- 
quently allude to this period of his life, to prove the practical 
inutility of his character, and have applied to him the saying, 
which Wilkes applied to Lord Chatham, that " all his power 
and efficacy was seated in his tongue."* What figure he 
might have made in war, had the opportunity been allowed 
him, can now be only matter of speculation. His personal 
bravery, so far as I have heard, has never been called in 
question ; or if it has, it has been without evidence : and 
neither his ardour in the public cause, nor his strong natural 
sense, can with any colour of justice be disputed. If we su- 
peradd to these qualities that presence of mind, that promp- 
titude, boldness, and novelty of view — that dexterous address, 
and fertility of expedient, for which he was remarkable — I 
can see no reason to doubt, that he would have justified the 
highest expectations of his admirers, had he been permitted 
to command the expedition which he courted. As to his 
want of experience, the alleged ground for keeping him so 
ignominiously confined to head-quarters, he possessed pretty 
nearly as much experience as Colonel Washington had 
when he covered the retreat of Braddock's routed forces ; 

* — homines inertissimi, quorum omnis vis, virtusque in lingua 
sita est. 

Sallust. Oratio sec. De Rep. Ord. 

16 



196 WIRT S LIFE OF 

as much, too, as those young generals of ours who have re- 
cently covered themselves with so much glory on our north- 
ern frontier : nor would it seem to comport with that respect 
which the committee owed to the convention, from whom 
both Colonel Henry and themselves had received their re- 
spective appointments, to arrogate the power of reversing 
the decree of the convention, and practically degrading the 
officer of their first choice. It is certain that the committee 
were severely spoken of at the day, and that the people, as 
well as the soldiery, did not hesitate openly to impute their 
conduct toward Mr. Henry to personal envy. 

Other humiliations yet awaited him. Shortly after the 
affair of the Great Bridge, Colonel Howe, of North Carolina, 
at the head of five or six hundred men of that state, joined 
Colonel Woodford ; and taking the command of the whole, 
with the consent of the latter gentleman, who yielded to the 
seniority of his commission, marched with their united 
forces into Norfolk, which had been evacuated by the British. 
From this post Colonel Howe continually addressed his com- 
munications to the committee of safety, or to the convention ; 
and Colonel Henry, after having seen his lawful rights and 
honours transferred, in the first instance, to an inferior officer 
of his own, had now the mortification of seeing himself 
completely superseded, and almost annihilated, by an officer 
from another state of only equal rank. 

But even this was not all : six additional regiments had 
been raised by the convention, and congress had been solicit- 
ed to take the Virginia troops on continental establishment. 
They resolved to take the six neio regiments, passing by the 
two first ; a discrimination which conveys so palpable a re- 
flection on the two first regiments, that it is difficult to ac- 
count for it, except by the secret influence of that unfriendly 



PATRICKHENRY. 197 

Star, which had hitherto controlled and obscured Mr. Henry's 
military destinies. The measure was so exactly adjust- 
ed to the wish expressed by Colonel Woodford's correspond- 
ent, that congress would not devolve the chief command of 
the Virginia forces on Colonel Henry, that it is difficult to 
avoid the suspicion that the suggestion came from the same 
quarter. The convention, however, now interfered in behalf 
of their favourite ; and remonstrated against this degradation 
of the officers of their first choice ; earnestly recommending 
it to congress, if they adhered to their resolution of taking 
into continental pay no more than six regiments, to suffer 
the two first to stand first in the arrangement. This course 
was accordingly adopted ; hut, at the same time, commissions 
of brigadier-general were forwarded by congress to Colonel 
Howe, and Colonel Andrew Lewis. 

The reader, if he knows any thing of the scrupulous and 
even fastidious delicacy with which military officers watch 
the most distant reflection upon their competency, will not 
be surprised that Mr. Henry refused the continental commis- 
sion of colonel,* which was now off'ered to him, and imme- 

* The following is an exact copy of the commission sent from the 
general congress to the committee of safety, appointing Colonel 
Henry to the command of the first regiment, or battalion, in this colony, 
taken upon the continental establishment, agreeable to the requisition 
of the last convention : — 

" In Congress. 
" The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
and Georgia, to Patrick Henry, Esq. : — 

" We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, 
valour, conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents constitute and ap- 

17* 



198 WIRT S LIFE OF 

dialely resigned that which he held from the state. His re- 
signation produced a commotion in the camp, which wore at 
first an alarming aspect ; and would probably have had an 
extremely unpropitious effect on the military efforts of the 
state, had it not been instantaneously quelled by his own 
patriotic exertions. The following is the notice of this trans- 
action from Purdie's paper of March 1, 1776 : — 

" Yesterday morning, the troops in this city being inform- 
ed that Patrick Henry, esquire, commander-in-chief of the 
Virginia forces, was about to leave them, the whole went 
into deep mourning, and being under arms, waited on him 
at his lodgings, when they addressed him in the following 
manner : — 

point you to he colonel of the first battalion of Virginia forces, in the 
army of the United Colonies, raised for the defence of American lib- 
erty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof You are, there- 
fore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of colonel, by do- 
ing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging. And 
we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your 
command to be obedient to your orders as colonel. And you are to 
observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as 
you shall receive from this or a future congress of the United Colo- 
nies, or committee of congress, for that purpose appomted, or com- 
mander-in-chief for the time being of the army of the United Colonies, 
or any other superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of 
war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This commission to 
continue in force until revoked by this or a future congress. 
" By order of the Congress, 

"John Hancock, President." 
" Attest, 

"Charles Thomson, Secretary. 
" Philadelphia, Feb. 13th, 1776." 



PATRICK HENRY. 199 

^" To Patrick Henry, jun. Esquire. 

" ' Deeply impressed with a grateful sense of the obligations 
we lie under to you, for the polite, humane, and tender treat- 
ment manifested to us throughout the whole of your conduct, 
while we had the honour of being under your command, 
permit us to offer you our sincere thanks, as the only tribute 
we have in our power to pay to your real merits. Notwith- 
standing your withdrawing yourself from the service fills 
us with the most poignant sorrow, as it at once deprives 
us of our father and general ; yet, as gentlemen, toe are 
compelled to applaud your spirited resentment to the most 
glaring indignity. May your merit shine as conspicuous 
to the world in general, as it hath done to us, and may Heav- 
en shower its choicest blessings upon you !' 

" To which he returned the following answer : — 

" ' Gentlemen, 

" ' I am exceedingly obliged to you for your approbation of 
my conduct. Your address does me the highest honour. 
This kind testimony of your regard to m.e would have been 
an ample reward for services much greater than those I have 
had the power to perform. I return you, and each of 3'^ou, 
gentlemen, my best acknowledgments for the spirit, alacrity, 
and zeal, you have constantly shown in )^our several stations, 
I am unhappy to part with you. I leave the service, but I 
leave ray heart with you. May God bless you, and give 
you success and safety, and make you the glorious instru- 
ment of saving our country.' 

"After the officers had received Colonel Henry's kind 
answer to their address, they insisted upon his dining with 

N 9 



200 WIRTSLIFEOF 

them at the Raleigh tavern, before his departure : and after 
dinner a number of them proposed escorting him out of town, 
but were prevented in their resolution by some uneasiness 
getting among the soldiery, who assembled in a tunmltuous 
manner, and demanded their discharge, declaring their un- 
willingness to serve under any other commander ; upon 
which Col. Henry found it necessary to stay a night longer 
in town ; which he spent in visiting the several barracks, 
and used every argument in his power with the soldiery, to 
lay aside their imprudent resolution, and to continue in the 
service which he had quilted from motives in which Ids hon- 
our alone was concer7ied ; and that, although he was pre- 
vented from serving his country in a military capacity, yet 
his utmost abilities should be exerted for the real interest 
of the united colonies, in support of the glorious cause in 
which they have engaged. This, accompanied with the 
extraordinary exertions of Col. Christian and other officers 
present, happily produced the desired effect, the soldiers re- 
luctantly acquiescing ; and we have now the pleasure to as- 
sure the public, that those brave fellows are now pretty well 
reconciled, and will spend the last drop of their blood in their 
country's defence." 

This is the man who has been sometimes branded as a 
turbulent, seditious, factious demagogue ! Had he been of 
this character, what an occasion was here to have provoked 
it to action ! This love for the man and the officer, and this 
resentment of the indignities to which he had been subjected, 
was not confined to the camp at Williamsburg ; they per- 
vaded the whole army, and were felt and expressed by the 
following address, signed by upwards of ninety officers at 
Kemp's landing and Suffolk, (m Colonel Woodford's camp,) 



PATRICK HENRY. 201 

as well as at Williamsburg ; and printed by their desire in 
Purdie's paper of the 22d March, 1775 : — 

" Sir, 

" Deeply concerned for the good of our country, we sin- 
cerely lament the unhappy necessity of your resignation, and 
with all the warmth of affection assure you, that, whatever 
may have given rise to the indignity lately offered to you, 
toe join with the general voice of the people, and think it our 
duty to make this public declaration of our high respect for 
your distinguished merit. To your vigilance and judgment 
as a senator this united continent bears ample testimony ; 
while she prosecutes her steady opposition to those destruc- 
tive ministerial measures which your eloquence first pointed 
out and taught to resent, and your resolution led forward 
to resist. To your extensive popularity the service also is 
greatly indebted, for the expedition with which the troops 
were raised ; and, while they were continued under your 
command, the firmness, candour, and politeness, which form- 
ed the complexion of your conduct toward them, obtained 
the signal approbation of the wise and virtuous, and will leave 
upon our minds the most grateful impression. Although 
retired from the immediate concerns of war, we solicit the 
continuance of your kindly attention. We know your at- 
tachment to the best of causes ; we have the fullest confi- 
dence in your abilities, and in the rectitude of your views ; 
and however ivilling the envious may be to unde7-mine an 
established reputation, we trust the day will come, when 
justice shall prevail, and thereby secure you an honourable 
and happy return to the glorious employment of conducting 
our councils, and hazarding your hfe in the defence of your 
country. 

2C 



202 WIRTSLIFEOF 

" With the most grateful sentiments of regard and esteem, 
we are, sir, very respectfully, your most obliged and obedient 
humble servants." 

If any doubt can be entertained as to the body to which 
this imputation of envy pointed, it will be removed by the fol- 
lowing defence of the committee of safety, extracted from the 
supplement to Purdie's paper of the 15th of March, 1776 :— 

" Mr. Purdie, 

" I am informed a report is prevaihng through the colony, 
that the committee of safety were the cause of Col. Henry's 
resigning the command of his battalion ; which it is supposed 
hath received confirmation from the address of the officers to 
that gentleman, in which they speak of a glaring indig- 
nity having been offered him, if it was not wholly derived 
from that source. That the good people of the country may 
be truly informed in this matter, the following state of facts 
is submitted, without comment, to the impartial judgment of 
the public : — 

"As soon as the last convention had voted the raising 
seven new battalions of troops, besides augmenting the old 
ones, the committee of safety informed our delegates to con- 
gress of that vote, desiring they would use their best endeav- 
ours to have the whole supported at continental expense; 
in answer to which, a letter was received from the delegates, 
dated the 30th of December, of which the following is an ex- 
tract : — ' The resolutions of congress for taking our six ad- 
ditional (they would not agree to take our other two) battal- 
ions, into continental pay, and for permitting an exportation 
for supplying our countrymen with salt, are enclosed.' It 
was supposed from hence, an intention prevailed in congress 



PATRICK HENRY. 203 

to pass by the two old battalions, and take six of the new- 
ones into continental pay ; which, as it was said those offi- 
cers would take precedency of provincial ones of equal rank, 
was generally thought wrong, since it would degrade the offi- 
cers of the two first battalions : and, to avoid this, the con- 
vention came to a resolution, the 10th of January, of which 
the following is part : — * Should the congress adhere to their 
resolution of taking into continental pay no more than six 
battalions, let it be earnestly recommended to them to suffer 
our two present battalions (to be completed as before men- 
tioned) to stand first in the arrangement ; since, otherwise, 
the officers first appointed by this convention, most of whom 
have already gone through a laborious and painful service, 
will be degraded in their ranks, and there is too much reason 
to apprehend that great confusion will ensue.' 

" The worthy gentleman (not a member of the committee 
of safety) who proposed this resolution, informed the conven- 
tion, he had consulted some of the officers of the first regi- 
ment, who wished to have their rank preserved, though it 
was foreseen the pay would be reduced. 

" The committee of safety, in a letter to the delegates, 
dated the 25th of January, enclosing this resolution, thus 
write : — * You have a list of the field officers as they stand 
recommended, and we doubt not receiving the commissions 
in the like order, with blanks for the proper number of cap- 
tains and subalterns. If, however, the resolution of congress 
should be unalterably fixed to allow us but six battalions, you 
will please to attend to that part of the resolve which re- 
commends their being the first six, as a point of great conse- 
quence to our harmony, in which may be involved the 
good of the common cause.' The committee of safety after- 
ward received the commissions wholly filled up for the field 



204 WIRTS LIFE OF 

officers of six battalions, in the rank they stood recommended 
by the convention, beginning with CoL Henry, and ending 
with Col. Buckner of the 6th battalion, with directions to 
deliver them. Colonel Henry was accoidingly offered his 
commission, which he declined accepting, and retired without 
assigning any reasons. 

" As to the general officers, the convention left them en- 
tirely to the choice of the congress, without recommenda- 
tion ; nor did the committee of safety at all intermeddle in 
that choice. 

" A Friend to Truth." 

Immediately following this defence of the committee, in 
the same paper, are the two following articles : — 

" Mr. Purdie, 

" The address of the officers to Col. Henry, and the col.'s 
reply, has led some of our enemies to hope that there would 
be great discontent in the army, by which our military opera- 
tions would be retarded, and that there would be a consider- 
able murmuring against the congress ; but they are much 
mistaken. It is true the soldiers and officers were very un- 
happy at parting with so amiable a commander as Colonel 
Henry ; and might be a little imprudent in some expression^ 
on the occasion ; but there is not a man of them who is not 
so warmly attached to the glorious cause he is engaged in, 
as to serve with alacrity under any commander, rather than 
it should suffer. And Colonel Henry himself is a gentleman 
of so much honour, and so true a patriot, that he will never 
countenance a murmur against the congress ; nay so far from 
it, that it is highly probable he will soon be found in that 
august assembly, urging with his powerful eloquence, the 



PATRICKHENRY. 205 

necessity of prosecuting the war with redoubled vigour. I 
am a sincere friend to the congress and to Colonel Henry." 



" Mr. Purdie, 

" ' E7ivy will merit as its shade pursue : 

But, like the shadow, proves the substance true.' 

Pope. 

" I was not surprised to see, in your last week's gazette, 
the resignation of Patrick Henry, esquire, late commander- 
in-chief of all the Virginia forces, and colonel of the first 
regiment. From that gentleman's amiable disposition, his 
invariable perseverance in the cause of liberty, we appre- 
hend that envy strove to bury in obscurity his martial tal- 
ents. Fettered and confined, with only an empty titlcy 
the mere echo of authority, his superior abilities lay inac- 
tive, nor could be exerted for his honour, or his country''s 
good. 

" Virginia may truly boast, that in him she finds the able 
statesman, the soldier's father, the best of citizens, and liber- 
ty's dear friend. Clad with innocence, as in a coat-of-mail, 
he is proof against every serpentile luhisper. The officers 
and soldiers, who know him, are riveted to his bosom ; when 
he speaks, all is silence ; when he orders, they cheerfully 
obey ; and in the field, under so sensible, so prudent an ofli- 
cer, though hosts oppose them, with shouts they meet their 
armed foe, the sure presages of victory and success. 

" Let us, my countrymen, with grateful hearts, remember 
that he carried off the standard of liberty, and defeated Gren- 
ville in his favourite stamp act. 

18 



206 W I R T S L 1 F E O F 

" ' While many dreaded, till with pleasing eye, 
Saw tyranny before brave Henry fly.' 

" I am, Mr. Purdie, your friend, and a well-wisher to 
Virginia. 

" An Honest Farmer." 

It is very clear from the last piece, as well as from the ad- 
dress of the ninety officers, which has been already given, 
and which was published by their desire in a paper subse- 
quent to that which contains the defence of the committee, 
that that defence had been by no means satisfactory ; and 
that either the committee as a body, or what is more proba- 
ble, some individual or individuals of it, were still believed to 
have had a secret hand in planning and directing the series of 
indignities which had driven Mr. Henry from a military life. 
It would seem that the truly respectable and venerable chair- 
man of that committee came in at the time for his full pro- 
portion of this censure, and that he smarted severely under 
it : this I infer, from a letter of his to Colonel Woodford some 
time afterward, in answer to one by which that gentleman 
had consulted him as to the propriety of his resigning his 
commission. After having dissuaded him from this step by 
other topics, he proceeds thus : — " I am apprehensive that 
your resignation will be handled to your disadvantage, /rom 
a certain quarter, where all reputations are sacrificed, 
for the sake of one ; what does it signify, that he resigned 
without any such cause, or assigning any reason at all ? it 
is not without example, that others should he censured for 
what he is applauded for.'''' This acrimony, so lumsual 
from a man of Mr. Pendleton's benevolence and courtesy, 



PATRICK HENRY. 207 

could have been wrung from him only by the bitterest provo- 
cations ; and renders it highly probable, that the numerous 
and enthusiastic admirers of Mr. Henry had implicated this 
gentleman deeply in the indignities wrhich had recently been 
offered to their favourite. 

The necessity of placing this incident of Mr. Henry's life 
in its true light, upon the evidence in my possession, has im- 
posed upon me a very painful duty in regard to Mr. Pendle- 
ton. With the justice or injustice of the construction placed 
upon his conduct in relation to Mr. Henry, I have nothing to 
do. Even if just, the infirmity of human nature may be 
easily excused in feeling some uneasiness at the eclipsing 
brightness with which Mr. Henry had rushed, like a comet, 
to the head of affairs in Virginia. It demands, however, no 
uncommon measure of charity to believe, that what was im- 
puted to envy at the time, proceeded, so far as Mr. Pendleton 
was concerned, from a single eye to the public good, and a 
sincere belief on his part, (an opinion in which he was by no 
means singular,) that Mr. Henry's inexperience in military 
affairs made it unsafe to commit to his management the in- 
fancy of our war. The people required to be animated by 
success in the onset ; and it was therefore very natural in the 
committee of safety, on whom the responsibility for the man- 
agement of the war devolved, to select, for the first enter- 
prises, the most experienced commander. Mr. Pendleton was 
too virtuous a man, and too faithful a patriot, to have yielded 
consciously to any other motive of action than the public 
good. His country has fixed its seal upon his exalted charac- 
ter, and the writer of these sketches is much more disposed 
to brighten than to efface the impression. 

The motives of Mr. Henry's resignation of his commission 
which have been stated, are very easily and clearly deducible 



208 WIRTS LIFE OF 

from the papers of the day, and were expressly avowed by 
him to his confidential friend and brother-in-law, Colonel 
Meredith.* To other friends, however, he stated that he was 
the more reconciled to the necessity which had compelled 
him to resign, because he believed that he could perhaps 
serve the cause of his country more effectually in the public 
councils than in the field.f 

Immediately upon his resignation he was elected a dele- 
gate to the convention for the county of Hanover. The ses- 
sion of that body, which was now coming on, was pregnant 
with importance. Dunmore had abdicated the chair of gov- 
ernment, and the royal authority in the colony was seen 
and felt no longer, but in acts of hostility. The king had 
declared from his throne, that the colonists must be reduced 
by force to submit to the British claim of taxation ; and the 
colonists, on their part, had avowed that they never would 
submit to this prostration of their rights ; but, on the contra- 
ry, that they would hand down to their children the birth- 
right of liberty which they had enjoyed, or perish in the at- 
tempt. On this quarrel arms had been taken up on both 
sides, and the appeal had been made to the God of battles. 
The war had assumed a regular and settled form ; blood had 

* These are Colonel Meredith's words : — " P. H. in a communica- 
tion to Col. M. staled his motives for resigning his commission as col- 
onel. He conceived himself neglected, by younger officers having been 
put above him, and preferred to him ; particularly in the affair of the 
Great Bridge, where he wished to have commanded ; but Colonel 
Woodford received that appointment. He disliked his being kept in 
and about Williamsburg, and not appointed to some important post or 
expedition. He was thus induced to think he was neglected by those 
who had the power of appointment. He therefore resigned." 

i Judge Tyler, and Captain George Dabney. 



PATRICK HENRY. 209 

been profusely shed in various parts of the continent, and re- 
conciliation had become hopeless. 

The people being thus abandoned by their king, put out 
of his protection, declared in a state of open rebellion, and 
treated as enemies, the social compact which had united the 
monarch with his subjects was at an end; the colonial con- 
stitution, which could be set and kept in motion only by 
the presence and agency of the king or his representative, 
was of course dissolved ; and all the rights and powers of 
government reverted, of necessity, to their source, the people. 
These causes produced the convention. It was the organ by 
which the people chose to exercise the fundamental rights 
thus thrown back upon them, by the dissolution of the regal 
government. It was the substitute for the whole govern- 
ment which had been withdrawn — legislative, executive, 
and judiciary. It represented the whole political power of 
the people ; and had been expressly elected to take care of 
the republic. The means of accomplishing this object were 
left to themselves, without limitation or restriction on the 
part of the people. Hitherto, while any hope of a restora- 
tion of the original government on just terms could be enter- 
tained, the convention had been satisfied with temporary ex- 
pedients ; the first convention, however, had exercised the 
power of the people in their liighest capacity, by adopting a 
species of constitution, and organizing a government under 
it ; thus they erected an executive, under the name of a com- 
mittee of safety, which the people recognised as flowing di- 
rectly from themselves. Before the meeting of the conven- 
tion of 1776, however, it was seen and well understood on 
every hand, that the contest could not be maintained by the 
people, without the aid of regular government ; and that the 
political malady of which they complained, could be extir- 
2D 18* 



210 WIRTS LIFE OF 

pated in no other way than by applying the knife to the root. 
The newspapers of the preceding year contain frequent sug- 
gestions of this kind ; the impression had now become uni- 
versal ; and the papers present specimens of explicit instruc- 
tions from the people to their delegates to this effect* Thus 

* The following are the instructions from the freeholders of James' 
city to their delegates : — 

" To Robert C. Nicholas, and William Norvell, Esquires : — 
" Gentlemen, 

" In vain do we congratulate ourselves on the impotency of the min- 
ister to divide us, if our union amounts to nothing more than a union 
in one common lethargy. War hath been brought into our houses, 
heightened by terrors and cruelties which the justest cause wants even 
palliatives for; but faint advances towards peace, insidiously urged, 
have caught the ear of the credulous, and groundless hopes of accom- 
modation deluded the timid, so that the free military system remains 
untouched in most essential points. As if our inexperience, poverty 
in warlike stores, and the infancy of our navy, were of trifling moment, 
we have ventured to neglect resources in such difficulties, which 
Heaven hath placed within our attainment. 

" Alliances may be formed at an easy price, capable of supplying 
these disadvantages, but an independent state disdains to humble 
herself to an equality in treaty with another, who cannot call her pol- 
itics her own ; or, to be explicit, she cannot enter into a negotiation 
with those who denominate themselves rebels, by resistance, and con- 
fession of a dependancy. 

"Reasons, drawn from jtistice, policy, and necessity, are every 
where at hand^br a radical separation from Great Britain. From 
justice ; for the blood of those who have fallen in our cause cries 
aloud, ' It is time to part.' From necessity, because she hath, of her- 
self, repudiated us by a rapid succession of insidt, injiiry, robbery, 
murder, and a formal declaration of war. These are but ^qw, and 
some of the weakest arguments which the great volume of our op- 
pression opens to every spirited American. 

" It cannot be a violation of our faith now to reject the terms of 
1763. They are a qualified slavery at best, and were acceptable to u», 



PATRICK HENRY. 21 1 

instructed in the sentiments of their constituents, and repre 
senting the people in their highest sovereign capacity, the 
convention met on the 6th of May, 1776, in the old capito 
in the city of Williamsburg. Mr. Pendleton having been 
elected president, after having thanked the house for the 
honour done him, addressed them with great solemnity, in the 
following terms : — "We are now met in general convention 
according to the ordinance for our election, at a time truly 
critical, when subjects of the most important, and interesting 
nature require our serious attention. 

" The administration of justice, and almost all the powers 
of government, have now been suspended for near two years. 
It will become us to reflect whether we can longer sustain 
the great struggle we are making in this situation." Having 
then directed their attention to certain specific subjects which 
required attention, he concluded his short, but impressive ad- 
dress, by exhorting the members to calmness, unanimity, and 
diligence. 

On the fifteenth of May, Mr. Gary reported from the com- 
mittee of the whole house on the state of the colony, the fol- 
lowing preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously 
adopted : — 

" Forasmuch as all the endeavours of the United Colonies, 
by the most decent representations and petitions to the king 

not as the extent of our right, but the probable cause of peace ; but 
since the day in which they were most humbly offered as the end 
of animosities, an interval hath passed, marked with tyranny intol- 
erable. 

" We, therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do request 
and instruct you, our delegates, (provided no just and honourable terms 
are offered by the king,) to exert your utmost ability, in the next con- 
vention, toward dissolving the connexion between America and 
Great Britain, totally, finally, and irrevocably.' 



212 WIRTS LIFE OF 

and parliament of Great Britain, to restore peace and security 
to America under the British government, and a reunion 
with that people upon just and liberal terms, instead of a 
redress of grievances, have produced, from an imperious and 
vindictive administration, increased insult, oppression, and a 
vigorous attempt to effect our total destruction. By a late 
act, all these colonies are declared to be in rebellion, and out 
of the protection of the British crown ; our properties sub- 
jected to confiscation ; our people, when captivated, compelled 
to join in the murder and plunder of their relations and coun- 
trymen ; and all former rapine and oppression of Americans 
declared legal and just. Fleets and armies are raised, and 
the aid of foreign troops engaged to assist these destructive 
purposes. The king's representative in this colony hath not 
only withheld all the powers of government from opera- 
ting for our safety, but, having retired on board an armed 
ship, is carrying on a piratical and savage war against us 
tempting our slaves, by every artifice, to resort to him, and 
tiaining and employing them against their masters. In this 
state of extreme danger, we have no alternative left, but an 
abject submission to the will of those overbearing tyrants, 
or a total separation from the crown and government of 
Great Britain : uniting and exerting the strength of all 
America for defence, and forming alliances with foreign 
powers for commerce and aid in war. Wherefore, appealing 
to the Searcher of hearts or the sincerity of former declara- 
tions, expressing our desire to preserve the connexion with 
that nation, and that we are driven from that inclination 
by their wicked councils, and the eternal laws of self-preser- 
vation, 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the delegates appointed to 
represent this colony in general congress, be instructed to 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 213 

propose to that respectable body, to declare the united 

COLONIES free AND INDEPENDENT STATES, absolvcd from 

all allegiance to, or dependance upon, the crown or par- 
liament of Great Britain ; and that they give the assent 
of this colony to such declaration, and to whatever measures 
may be thought proper and necessary by the congress for 
forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the 
COLONIES, at such time, and in the manner, as to them shall 
seem best. Provided, that the power of forming government 
for, and the regulation of, the internal concerns of each colony, 
be left to the respective colonial legislatures. 

" Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be appointed 
to prepare a declaration op rights, and such a plan 
of government as will be most likely to maintain peace and 
order in this colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty 
to the people." 

This measure was followed by the most lively demonstra- 
tions of joy. The spirit of the times, is interestingly mani- 
fested by the following paragraph from Purdie's paper of 
the 17th of May, which immediately succeeds the annuncia- 
tion of the resolutions : — 

" In consequence of the above resolutions, universally re- 
garded as the only door which will lead to safety and pros- 
perity, some gentlemen made a handsome collection for the 
purpose of treating the soldiery, who next day were paraded 
in Waller's grove, before Brigadier-General Lewis, attended 
by the gentlemen of the committee of safety, the members 
of the general convention, the inhabitants of this city, &c., 
&c. The resolutions being read aloud to the army, the fol- 
lowing toasts were given, each of them accompanied by a 
discharge of the artillery and small arms, and the acclama- 
tions of all present : — 



214 WIRT S LIFE OF 

" 1. The American Independent States. 

" 2. The grand Congress of the United States, and their 
respective legislatures. 

" 3. General Washington, and victory to the American 
arms. 

" The Union Flag of the American states waved upon the 
capitol during the whole of this ceremony ; which being 
ended, the soldiers partook of the refreshments prepared for 
them by the affection of their countrymen, and the evening 
concluded with illuminations, and other demonstrations of 
joy ; every one seeming pleased that the domination of Great 
Britain was now at an end, so wickedly and tyrannically ex- 
ercised for these twelve or thirteen years past, notwithstand- 
ing our repeated prayers and remonstrances for redress." 

The committee appointed to prepare the declaration and 
plan of government, called for by the last resolution, were 
the following : — Mr. Archibald Gary, Mr. Meriwether Smith, 
Mr. Mercer, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Treasurer, Mr. Henry, Mr. 
Dandridge, Mr. Gilmer, Mr. Bland, Mr. Digges, Mr. Carring- 
ton, Mr. Thomas Ludwell Lee, Mr. Cabell, Mr. Jones, Mr 
Blair, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Tazewell, Mr. Richard Gary, Mr. 
Bullitt, Mr. Watts, Mr. Banister, Mr. Page, Mr. Starke, Mr. 
David Mason, Mr. Adams, Mr. Read, and Mr. Thomas 
Lewis ; to whom were afterward successively added, Mr 
Madison, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Watkins, Mr. George Mason, 
Mr. Harvie, Mr. Curie, and Mr. Holt. 

On Wednesday, the 12th of June following, that declara- 
tion of rights which stands prefixed to our statutes, was 
reported and adopted without a dissenting voice ; as was 



PATRICK HENRY. 215 

also, on Saturday, the 29th of the same month, the present 
plan of our government.* 

The salary of the governor to be appointed under the new 
constitution was immediately fixed by a resolution of the 
house at one thousand pounds per annum ; and the house 
proceeded to elect forthwith the first republican governor for 
the commonwealth of Virginia. This was the touchstone of 
public favour. The office was of the first importance ; and 
the whole state was open to the choice of the house. The 
question was decided on the first ballot. The vote stood 
thus : — 

For Patrick Henry, jun, Esq. - - - 60 
Thomas Nelson, Esq. - - - - 45 
John Page, Esq. - _ - _ _ l 

* The striking similitude between the recital of wrongs prefixed to 
the constitution of Virginia, and that which was afterward prefixed 
to the Declaration of Independence cf the United States, is of itself 
sufficient to establish the fact that they are from the same pen. But 
the constitution of Virgmia preceded the Declaration of Independence, 
by nearly a month ; and was wholly composed and adopted while Mr. 
Jefferson is known to have been out of the state, attending the session 
of congress at Philadelphia. From these facts alone, a doubt might 
naturally arise whether he was, as he has always been reputed, the 
author of that celebrated instrument, the Declaration of American In- 
dependence, or at least the recital of grievances which ushers it in ; or 
whether this part of it, at least, had not been borrowed from the pre- 
amble to the constitution of Virginia. To remove this doubt, it is pro- 
per to state, that there now exists among the archives of this state 
an original rough draught of a constitution for Virginia, in the hand- 
writing of Mr. Jefferson, containing this identical preamble, and which 
was forwarded by him from Philadelphia, to his friend Mr. Wythe, to 
be submitted to the committee of the house of delegates. The body of 
the constitution is taken principally from a plan proposed by Mr. 
George Mason ; and had been adopted by the committee before the 



216 WIRTS LIFE OF 

Whereupon it was " Resolved, That the said Patrick 
Henry, jun. Esq., be governor of this commonwealth, to con- 
tinue in that office until the end of the succeeding session of 
assembly after the last of March next ; and that Mr. Mason, 
Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Digges, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Dandridge, 
be a committee to wait upon him, and notify such appoint- 
ment." 

On Monday, the 1st of July, Mr. George Mason, of this 
committee, reported, that they had performed the duty as- 
signed them, and that the governor had been pleased to re- 
turn the following answer to the convention : — 

" To the Honourable the President and House of Convention: 

" Gentlemen, 

" The vote of this day, appointing me governor of the 
commonwealth, has been notified to me in the most po- 
lite and obliging manner, by George Mason, Henry Lee, 
Dudley Digges, John Blair, and Bartholomew Dandridge, 
esquires. 

" A sense of the high and unmerited honour conferred 
upon me by the convention, fills m.y heart with gratitude, 
which I trust my whole life will manifest. I take this earli- 
est opportunity to express my thanks, which I wish to con- 
vey to you, gentlemen, in the strongest terms of acknow- 
ledgment. 

" When I reflect that the tyranny of the British king and 
parliament hath kindled a formidable war, now raging 
throughout this wide-extended continent, and in the opera- 
tions of which this commonwealth must bear so great a part ; 

arrival of Mr. Jefferson's plan : his preamble, however, was prefixed 
to the instrument ; and some of the modifications proposed by him 
introduced into the bodv of it. 



PATRICK HENRY. 217 

and that, from the events of this war, the lasting happiness 
or misery of a great proportion of the human species will 
jfinally result ; that, in order to preserve this commonwealth 
from anarchy, and its attendant ruin, and to give vigour to 
our councils, and effect to all our measures, government 
hath been necessarily assumed, and new-modelled; that 
it is exposed to numberless hazards, and perils, in its infan- 
tine state ; that it can never attain to maturity, or ripen into 
firmness, unless it is guarded by an affectionate assiduity, 
and managed by great abilities ; I lament my want of tal- 
ents ; I feel my mind filled with anxiety and uneasiness, to 
find myself so unequal to the duties of that important sta- 
tion, to which I am called by the favour of my fellow-citizens 
at this truly critical conjuncture. The errors of my conduct 
shall be atoned for, so far as I am able, by unwearied en- 
deavours to secure the freedom and happiness of our com- 
mon country. 

" I shall enter upon the duties of my office, whenever 
you, gentlemen, shall be pleased to direct ; relying upon the 
known wisdom and virtue of your honourable house to sup- 
ply my defects, and to give permanency and success to 
that system of government which you have formed, and 
which is so wisely calculated to secure equal liberty, and ad- 
vance human happiness. 

" I have the honour to be, gentlemen, 

" your most obedient and very humble servant, 

" P. Henry, jun." 

Mr. Henry was also immediately greeted with the follow- 
mg affectionate address, from the two regiments which he 
had recently commanded : — 

2E 19 



218 WIRT S LIFE OF 

" To his excellency Patrick Henri/, jun. Esq., governor of 
the commonwealth of Virginia : — The humble address of 
the first and second Virginia regiments : — 

" May it please your excellency, 

" Permit us, with the sincerest sentiments of respect and 
joy, to congratulate your excellency upon your unsolicited 
promotion to the highest honours a grateful people can be- 
stow. 

"Uninfluenced by private ambition, regardless of sordid 
interest, you have uniformly pursued the general good of 
your country ; and have taught the world, that an ingenu- 
ous love of the rights of mankind, an inflexible resolution, and 
a steady perseverance in the practice of every private and 
public virtue, lead directly to preferment, and give the best 
title to the honours of our uncorrupted and vigorous state, 

" Once happy under your military command, we hope for 
more extensive blessings from your civil administration, 

" Intrusted as your excellency is, in some measure, with 
the support of a young empire, our hearts are willing, and 
arms ready, to maintain your authority as chief magistrate ; 
happy that we have lived to see the day, when freedom and 
equal rights, established by the voice of the people, shall pre- 
vail through the land. We are, may it please your excel- 
lency, your excellency's most devoted and most obedient 
servants." 

To which he returned the following exquisite answer : — 

" Gentlemen of the first and second Virginia regiments, 

" Your address does me the highest honour. Be pleased 
to accept my most cordial thanks for your favourable and 
kind sentiments of my principles and conduct. 



PATRICK HENRY. 219 

"The high appointment to which my fellow-citizens have 
called me, was, indeed, wimerited, unsolicited. I am, there- 
fore, under increased obligations to promote the safety, dig- 
nity, and happiness of the commonwealth. 

" While the civil powers are employed in establishing a 
system of government, liberal, equitable, in every part of 
which the genius of equal liberty breathes her blessed inJflu- 
ence, to you is assigned the glorious task of saving, by your 
valour, all that is dear to mankind. Go on, gentlemen, to 
finish the great work you have so nobly and successfully be- 
gun. Convince the tyrants again, that they shall bleed, that 
America will bleed to her last drop, ere their wicked schemes 
find success. 

" The remembrance of my former connexion with you 
shall ever be dear to me. I honour your profession, I revere 
that patriot virtue, which, in your conduct, hath produced 
cheerful obedience, exemplary courage, and contempt of 
hardship and danger. Be assured, gentlemen, I shall feel the 
highest pleasure in embracing every opportunity to con- 
tribute to your happiness and welfare ; and I trust the day 
will come, when I shall make one of those that will hail you 
among the tri\:^mphant deliverers of America. 

" I have the honour to be, gentlemen, 

" Your most obedient and very humble servant, 

"P. Henry, jun."* 

* When it is said that Mr. Henry was not successful as a writer, 
the remark must be understood as applicable only to those extended 
compositions in which it was necessary to digest and arrange a mass 
of arguments with skill and effect, and to give them beauty as well 
as order. In his short effusions, when excited by strong feelings, he 
was sometimes very happy ; of which the above answer is a very 
pleasing specimen. 



220 PATRICK HENRY. 

The first council appointed under the constitution were, 
John Page, Dudley Digges, John Taylor, John Blair, Ben- 
jamin Harrison, of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Thom- 
as Nelson, and Charles Carter, of Shirley, esquires. Mr. 
Nelson (the same gentleman who had received so honour- 
able a vote as governor) declined the acceptance of the office, 
on account of his age and infirmities ; and his place was 
supplied by Mr. Benjamin Harrison, of Brandon. 

The governor's palace, together with the out-buildings be- 
longing to it in Williamsburg, having, by a previous reso- 
lution, been appropriated as a public hospital, was, by a reso- 
lution of the first of July, restored to its original destination ; 
and the committee who had been appointed to notify the 
governor of his election, were now directed to inform him of 
the desire of the convention, that he would make the palace 
nis place of residence. On the fifth of July the sum of one 
thousand pounds was directed by the house, to be laid out in 
furniture for the palace, including the furniture already there, 
belonging to the country ; and, on the same day, the govern- 
or and members of the privy council took their respective 
oaths of office, and entered at once upon the discharge of 
their constitutional duties. • 



SECTION VII. 

Shortly after Mr. Henry's election as governor, Lord 
Dunmore was driven from Gwinn's island, and from the 
state, to return to it no more ; and \ irginia was left in repose 
from every external enemy. No opportunity, therefore, was 
afforded to the governor to distinguish himself- in the exer- 
cise of that important constitutional power which created 
him the commander-in-chief of the forces of the state. Du- 
ties, however, of more importance than lustre, remained for 
the executive of the state — in keeping up the ardour of the 
commonwealth in the public cause — in furnishing and for- 
warding their quota of military supplies to the grand conti- 
nental army — in awakening the spirit of the state to the 
importance of discipline, and preparing the militia for the 
effectual discharge of their routine of duty — in watching and 
crushing the intrigues of the tories who still infested the state, 
and went about clandestinely, preaching disaffection to the 
patriot cause, and submission to Great Britain — in counter- 
acting the schemes of speculating monopolists and extor- 
tioners, who sought to avail themselves of the necessities of 
the times, and to grow rich by preying on the misfortunes of 
the people — in short, in eradicating and removing those 
numerous moral diseases, which spring up with so much 
fecundity, and flourish so luxuriantly, amid the calamities of 
a revolution — and in keeping the body politic pure and 
healthy in all its parts. The numerous and well-directed 
221 19* 



222 WIRT S LIFE OF 

proclamations with which the papers of the day abound, at- 
test the vigilance and energy with which these duties were 
performed. To enter upon a detail of them, would be to 
write the history of Virginia during this period, instead of the 
life of Mr. Henry ; a work wholly unnecessary, since it has 
been already executed with minuteness and fidelity by an 
elegant writer,* whose work will probably see the light before 
these sketches. I shall confine myself to a few prominent 
incidents of Mr. Henry's administration, on account of some 
of which a degree of censure has been unjustly, I think, 
attached to his character. 

The fall of the year 1776 was one of the darkest and most 
dispiriting periods of the revolution. The disaster at Long 
Island had occurred, by which a considerable portion of the 
American army had been cut off — a garrison of between 
three and four thousand men had been taken at Fort Wash- 
ington — and the American general, with the small remainder, 
disheartened, and in want of every kind of comfort, was 
retreating through the Jerseys before an overwhelming power, 
which spread terror, desolation, and death, on every hand. 
This was the period of which Paine, in his Crisis, used that 
memorable expression : — " These are the times which try tlie 
souls of men !" For a short time the courage of the country 
fell. Washington alone remained erect, and surveyed with 
godlike composure the storm that raged around him. Even 
the heroism of the Virginia legislature gave way ; and, in a 
season of despair, the mad project of a dictator was seriously 
meditated. That Mr. Henry was thought of for this office, 
has been alleged, and is highly probable ; but that the pro 
ject was suggested by him, or even received his countenance, 

*Mr. L. H. Girardin, the continuator of Burk's History of Virginia. 



PATRICK HENRY. 223 

I have met with no one who will venture to affirm. There 
is a tradition that Col. Archibald Gary, the speaker of the 
senate, was principally instrumental in crushing this project ; 
that meeting Col. Syme, the step-brothei of Col. Henry, in 
the lobby of the house, he accosted him very fiercely in terms 
like these : — " I am told that your brother wishes to be dic- 
tator : tell him from me, that the day of his appointment 
shall be the day of his death — for he shall feel my dagger 
in his heart before the sunset of that day :" and the tradition 
adds, that Col. Syme, in great agitation, declared, " that if 
such a project existed, his brother had no hand in it, for that 
nothing could be more foreign to him, than to countenance 
any office which could endanger, in the most distant manner, 
the liberties of his country." 

The intrepidity and violence of Col. Cary's character ren- 
ders the tradition probable ; but it furnishes no proof of Mr. 
Henry's implication in the scheme. It is most certain, that . 
both himself and his friends have firmly and uniformly per- 
sisted in asserting his innocence ; and there seems to be 
neither candour or justice in imputing to him, without evi- 
dence, a scheme which might just as well have originated in 
the assembly itself. It was not more than a month after- 
ward, that congress actually did, with relation to General 
Washington, very nearly what the Virginia legislature are 
said to have contemplated in regard to Mr. Henry ; they 
invested him with powers very little short of dictatorial : yet 
no one ever suspected General Washington of having prompt- 
ed the measure. Why then shall Mr. Henry be suspected ? 
Neither General Washington himself, nor any other patriot, 
had maintained the principles of the revolution with more 
consistency and uniformity than Patrick Henry ; and it will 



224 WIRT S LIFE OF 

certainly never satisfy a fair inquirer, to attempt to balance 
a suspicion, without the shadow of proof, against the whole 
course of a long and patriotic life. The charge, moreover, 
seems preposterous. What advantage could a rational man 
promise himself from the dictatorship of a single state, em- 
barked with twelve other sovereign and independent states, 
in one common cause ; a cause, too, now so well understood 
by the whole body of the American people, and in which 
all their souls were so intensely engaged? The man who 
was at the head of the armies of the union, might have 
played the part of Cesar or Cromwell, had he possessed 
their wicked spirit ; but what could the dictator of a single 
state do, and that, too, a state of firm and enlightened 
patriots ? 

It is impossible to believe that the legislature themselves 
could have entertained a doubt of Mr, Henry's innocence ; 
since at the next annual election for governor, which took 
place on the 30th of May, 1777, he was re-elected unani- 
mously ; the house being composed of nearly the same 
members, and the same Colonel Cary being speaker of the 
senate. This honourable proof of confidence, by those who 
best knew the whole case — who watched, with a scrutiny 
so severely jealous, the conduct of our prominent men — and 
among whom were some who derived no pleasiue from the 
public honours of Mr. Henry — will be decisive of this ques- 
tion, with every man who is dispassionately searching for 
the truth, and is willing to find it. 

This very honourable mark of the confidence of the legis- 
lature, in re-electing him unanimously to the office of gover- 
nor, affected Mr. Henry most sensibly ; and to the committee 
who announced it to him, he gave the following answer : — 



PATRICK HENRY. 225 

" Gentlemen, 

"The signal honour conferred on me by the general 
assembly in their choice of me to be the governor of this 
commonwealth, demands my best acknowledgments, which 
I beg the favour of you to convey to them in the most ac- 
ceptable manner. 

" I shall execute the duties of that high station, to which 
I am again called by the favour of my fellow-citizens, accord- 
ing to the best of my abilities, and I shall rely upon the 
candour and wisdom of the assembly, to excuse and supply 
my defects. The good of the commonwealth shall be the 
only object of my pursuit, and I shall measure my happiness 
according to the success which shall attend my endeavours 
to establish the public liberty. I beg to be presented to the 
assembly ; and that they and you will be assured, that I am, 
with every sentiment of the highest regard, their and your 
most obedient and very humble servant, 

" P. Henry." 

It was in the course of this year's administration of the 
government by Mr. Henry, that that memorable plot which 
disgraces our history, was formed to supplant General Wash- 
ington. This is said to have proceeded from the glory which 
General Gates had gained by the capture of Burgoyne and 
his army at Saratoga, and was believed to have been sug- 
gested by General Gates himself. The plot is said to have 
been an extensive one, and to have embraced some of the 
members of congress, and many officers of the army. The 
high estimate which Mr. Henry had formed of the abilities 
of General Washington, while that illustrious man was com- 
paratively unknown to his countrymen, has been already 
stated. This estimate, instead of having been lowered, had 
. 2F 



226 WIRTS LIFE OF 

been confirmed and raised by subsequent events. Mr. Henry 
was too cool and judicious an observer of events, to have im- 
puted to the commander-in-chief the disasters of the autumn 
of 1776. His masterly retreat through the Jerseys, the bril- 
liant strokes of generalship exhibited at Trenton and Prince- 
ton, and above all, that singular constancy of soul with 
which he braved adversity, had excited his grateful admira- 
tion, and established Washington in his heart as one of the 
first of human beings. He not only admired him as a gen- 
eral, but revered him as a patriot, and loved him as a friend. 
Feeling for General Washington sentiments like these, the 
reader may judge of the indignation and horror with which 
he read the following anonymous letter, addressed to him by 
one of the conspirators against that father of his country : — 

" Yorktoicn, Januai'y 12th, 1778. 
*' Dear Sir, 

" The common danger of our country first brought you 
and me together. I recollect with pleasure the influence of 
your conversation and eloquence upon the opinions of this 
country, in the beginning of the present controversy. You 
first taught us to shake off our idolatrous attachment to 
royalty, and to oppose its encroachments upon our liberties, 
with our very lives. By these means you saved us from 
ruin. The independence of America is the offspring of that 
liberal spirit of thinking and acting which followed the 
destruction of the sceptres of kings, and the mighty power 
of Great Britain. 

" But, sir, we have only passed the Red sea. A dreary 
wilderness is still before us, and unless a Moses or a Joshua 
are raised up in our behalf, we must perish before we reach 
the promised land. We have nothing to fear from our 



PATRICK HENRY. 227 

enemies on the way. General Howe, it is true, has taken 
Philadelphia; but he has only changed his prison. His 
dominions are bounded on all sides, by his out-sentries. 
America can only be undone by herself. She looks up to 
her councils and arms for protection ; but alas ! what are 
they ? Her representation in congress dwindled to only 
twenty-one members — her Adams — her Wilson — her Henry, 
are no more among them. Her councils weak — and partial 
remedies apphed constantly for universal diseases. Her 
army — what is it ? a major-general belonging to it, called it 
a few days ago, in my hearing, a moh. Discipline unknown 
or ivltolly neglected. The quarter-master and commissary's 
departments filled with idleness, ignorance, and peculation 
--our hospitals crowded with six thousand sick, but half 
provided with necessaries or accommodations, and more 
dying in them in one month, than perished in the field during 
the whole of the last campaign. The money depreciating, 
without any effectual measures being taken to raise it — 
the country distracted with the Don Quixote attempts to 
regulate the price of provisions — an artificial famine created 
by it, and a real one dreaded from it — the spirit of the people 
failing through a more intimate acquaintance with the causes 
of our misfortunes — many submitting daily to General Howe 
— and more wishing to do it, only to avoid the calamities 
which threaten our country. But is om: case desperate ? by 
no means. We have wisdom, virtue, and strength enough to 
save us, if they could be called into action. The northern 
ar7ny]\3iS shown us what Americans are capable of doing, 
with a general at their head. The spirit of the southern 
army is no way inferior to the spirit of the northern. A 
Gates, a Lee, or a Conway, would in a few weeks render 
them an irresistible body of men. The last of the above 



228 WIRTSLIFEOF 

officers has accepted of the new office of inspector-general ol 
our army, in order to reform abuses ; but the remedy is only 
a palliative one. In one of his letters to a friend, he says, 
'a great and good God hath decreed America to be free — or 
the ****** and weak counsellors, would have 
ruined her long ago.' You may rest assured of each of the 
facts related in this letter. The author of it is one of your 
Philadelphia friends. A hint of his name, if found out by 
the handwriting, must not be mentioned to your most inti- 
mate friend. Even the letter must be thrown in the fire. 
But some of its contents ought to be made public, in order 
to awaken, enlighten, and alarm our country. I rely upon 
yoiu" prudence, and am, dear sir, with my usual attachment 
to you, and to our beloved independence, yours sincerely. 
" His Excellencij P- Henry. ^^ 

Mr. Henry did not hesitate a moment as to the course 
which it was proper for him to take with this perfidious let 
ter : he enclosed it forthwith to General Washington, in the 
following frank and high-minded communication : — 

" Williamsburg, February 20, 1778. 
"Dear Sir, 

" You will, no doubt, be surprised at seeing the enclosed 
letter, in which the encomiums bestowed on me are as un- 
deserved, as the censures aimed at you are unjust. I am 
sorry there should be one man who counts himself my friend, 
who is not yours. 

" Perhaps I give you needless trouble in handing you this 
paper. The writer of it may be too insignificant to deserve 
any notice. If I knew this to be the case, I should not have 
intruded on your time, which is so precious. But there may 



PATRICK HENRY. 229 

possibly be some scheme or party forming to yom- prejudice. 
The enclosed leads to such a suspicion. Believe me, sir, I 
have too high a sense of the obligations America has to you, 
to abet or countenance so unworthy a proceeding. The most 
exalted merit hath ever been found to attract envy. But I 
please myself with the hope, that the same fortitude and 
greatness of mind which have hitherto braved all the diffi- 
culties and dangers inseparable from your station, will rise 
superior to every attempt of the envious partisan. 

" I really cannot tell who is the writer of this letter, which 
not a little perplexes me. The handwriting is altogether 
strange to me. 

" To give you the trouble of this gives me pain. It would 
suit my inclination better to give you some assistance in the 
great business of the war. But I will not conceal any thing 
from you by which you may be affected ; for I really think, 
your personal welfare and the happiness of America are 
intimately connected. I beg you will be assured of that high 
regard and esteem, with which I ever am, dear sir, your 
affectionate friend and very humble servant, 

" P. Henry. 

" His Excellency General Washington.^^ 

Not having received any answer to this letter, and being 
filled with solicitude by the wicked conspiracy, he again 
wrote to General Washington, as follows : — 

" Williamsburg, March 5th, 1778. 
"Dear Sir, 

" By an express which Colonel Finnic sent to camp, I 
enclosed you an anonymous letter, which I hope got safe to 
hand. 1 am anxious to hear something that will serve to 

20 



230 WIRT S LIFE OF 

explain the strange affair, which I am now informed is taken 
up respecting you. Mr. Custis has just paid us a visit, and 
by him I learn sundry particulars concerning General Mifflin, 
that much surprised me. It is very hard to trace the schemes 
and windings of the enemies to America. I really thought 
that man its friend : however, I am too far from him to 
judge of his present temper, 

" While you face the armed enemies of our liberty in the 
field, and by the favour of God, have been kept unhurt, I 
trust your country will never harbour in her bosom the mis- 
creant who would ruin her best supporter. I wish not to 
flatter ; but when arts, unworthy honest men, are used to 
defame and traduce you, I think it not amiss, but a duty, to 
assure you of that estimation in which the public hold you. 
Not that I think any testimony I can bear is necessary for 
your svipport, or private satisfaction ; for a bare recollection 
of what is past must give you sufficient pleasure in every 
circumstance of life. But I cannot help assuring you, on 
this occasion, of the high sense of gratitude which all ranks 
■of men, in this your native country, bear to you. It will give 
me sincere pleasure to manifest my regards, and render my 
best services to you or yours. I do not like to make a 
parade of these things, and I know you are not fond of it : 
however, I hope the occasion will plead my excuse. 

" The assembly have, at length, empowered the executive 
here, to provide the Virginia troops serving with you with 
clothes, &c. I am. making provision accordingly, and hope 
to do something toward it. Every possible assistance from 
government is afforded the commissary of provisions, whose 
department has not been attended to. It was taken up by 
me too late to do much. Indeed, the load of business de- 
volved on me is too great to be managed well. A French 



k 



PATRICK HENRY. 231 

ship, mounting thirty guns, that has been long chased by the 
Enghsh cruisers, has got into Carohna, as I hear last night. 
" Wishing you all possible felicity, I am, my dear sir, 
" Your ever affectionate friend, 

" x\nd very humble servant, 

" P. Henry. 
" His Excellency General Washington.'''' 

In reply, Mr. Henry received, shortly afterv^rard the two 
following very cordial letters from the general : — 

" Valley Forge, March nth, 1778. 
" Dear Sir, 

" About eight days past, I was honoured with your favour 
of the 20th ultimo. Your friendship, sir, in transmitting me 
the anonymous letter you had received, lays me under the 
most grateful obligations ; and, if any thing could give a still 
further claim to my acknowledgments, it is the very polite 
and delicate terms in which you have been pleased to make 
the communication. 

"I have ever been happy in supposing that I held a 
place in your esteem, and tlie proof of it you have afforded 
on this occasion makes me peculiarly so. The favourable 
light in which you hold me is truly flattering; but I should 
feel much regret, if I thought the happiness of America so 
intimately connected with my personal welfare, as you so 
obligingly seem to consider it. All I can say is, lliat she 
has ever had, and I trust she e er will have, my honest 
exertions to promote her interest. I cannot hope that my 
services have been the best, but my heart tells me they have 
been the best that I could render. 

" That I may have erred in using the means m my power 



232 WIRT S LIFE OF 

for accomplishing the objects of the arduous, exalted station 
with which I am honoured, I cannot doubt ; nor do 1 wish 
my conduct to be exempted from the reprehension it may 
deserve. Error is the portion of humanity, and to censure it, 
whether committed by this or that public character, is the 
prerogative of freemen. 



" This is not the only secret, insidious attempt that has 
been made to wound my reputation. There have been 
others equally base, cruel, and ungenerous ; because con- 
ducted with as little frankness, and proceeding from views, 
perhaps, as personally interested. 

" I am, dear sir, &c. 

" Geo. Washington. 
" To his Excellency Patrick Henry, Esq., 
" Governor of Virginia." 



" Ca?np, March 28th. 1778. 
" Dear Sir, 

" Just as I was about to close my letter of yesterday, 
your favour of the 5th instant came to hand. I can only 
thank you again in the language of the most undissembled 
gratitude for your friendship, and assure you, the indulgent 
disposition which Virginia in particular, and the states in 
general, entertain towards me, gives me the most sensible 
pleasure. The approbation of my country is what I wish ; 
and as far as my abilities and opportunity will permit, I hope 
I shall endeavour to deserve it. It is the highest reward to 



PATRICK HENRY. 233 

a feeling mind ; and happy are they who so conduct them- 
selves as to merit it. 

" The anonymous letter with which you were pleased to 
favour me, was written by * * * * so far as I can 

judge from the similitude of hands. * * * * 

* # # « 

" My caution to avoid every thing that could injure the 
service, prevented me from communicating, except to a very 
few of my friends, the intrigues of a faction which I knew 
was formed against me, since it might serve to publish our 
internal dissensions ; but their own restless zeal to advance 
their views has too clearly betrayed them, and made conceal- 
ment on my part fruitless. I cannot precisely mark the 
extent of their views ; but it appeared, in general, that 
General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my reputation 
and influence. This I am authorized to say from undeniable 
facts in my own possession — from publications, the evident 
scope of which could not be mistaken — and from private 
detractions industriously circulated. *****, it is com- 
monly supposed, bore the second part in the cabal ; and 
General Conway, I know, was a very active and malignant 
partisan ; but I have good reason to believe, that their 
machinations have recoiled most sensibly upon themselves. 
'I am, dear sir, &c., 

" Geo. Washington. 
"His Excellency Patrick Henri/, Esq., 
" Governor of Virginia.^^ 

The plot did recoil on its contrivers, and left General 
Washington more firmly established than ever in the confi- 
dence of his countrymen. 

2G 20* 



234 WIRT S LIFE OF 

At the spring session of 1778, Mr. Henry was again 
unanimously re-elected to the office of governor, Mr. Jef- 
ferson, Mr. Dandridge, and Mr. Page, the committee 
appointed to announce to him that event, received and 
reported the following answer: — 

" Gentlemen, 

" The general assembly in again electing me governor of 
this commonwealth, have done me very signal honour. I 
trust that their confidence thus continued in me, will not be 
misplaced. 

" I beg you will be pleased, gentlemen, to present me to 
the general assembly, in terms of grateful acknowledgment 
for this fresh instance of their favour toward me ; and to 
assure them, that my best endeavours shall be used to pro- 
mote the public good, in that station to which they have 
once more been pleased to call me." 

At this same session an act was passed, on account of 
which both Mr. Henry and the legislature have been, it is 
thought, improperly censured. I mean the act to attaint 
Josiah Philips. This man, in the summer of 1777, at the 
head of a banditti, commenced a course of crimes in the 
counties of Norfolk and Princess Anne, which spread terror 
and consternation on every hand. Availing himself of the 
disaffection which prevailed in that quarter, and taking 
refuge from occasional pursuit in the fastnesses of the 
Dismal Swamp, he had carried on a species of war against 
the innocent and defenceless, at the bare mention of which 
humanity shudders. Scarcely a night passed without wit- 
nessing the shrieks of women and children, flying by the 
light of their own burning houses, from the assaults of these 
merciless wretches ; and every day was marked by the deso- 



PATRICK HENRY. 235 

lation of some farm, by robberies on the highway, or the 
assassination of some individual whose patriotism had 
incurred the displeasure of this fierce and bloody leader of 
banditti. Every attempt to take them had hitherto proved 
abortive; when, in May, 1778, the governor received the 
following letter from Col. John Wilson : — 

"Norfolk County, May 20th, 1778. 
"Honourable Sir, 

" I received your letter the 14th inst. of the 12th April, 
respecting the holding of the m.ilitia in readiness, and my 
attention to the arms and accoutrements, which I shall 
endeavour to comply with as far as in my power : that 
much, however, may not be expected from this county, I beg 
to observe, that the militia, of late, fail much in appearing at 
musters, submitting to the trifling fine of five shillings, which, 
they argue, they can afford to pay, by earning more at home ; 
but I have reason to fear, through dissaffection. With such 
a set of men, it is impossible to render any service to country 
or county. A few days since, hearing of the ravages com- 
mitted by Philips and his notorious gang, I ordered fifty men 
to be raised out of four companies, consisting of upward of 
two hundred : of those only ten appeared, and it being at a 
private muster, I compelled twenty others into duty, putting 
them under the command of Capt. Josiah Wilson, who 
immedialrely marched after the insurgents ; and that very 
night, one fourth of his men deserted. Capt. Wilson still 
pursued, but to no purpose : they were either taken to their 
secret places in the swamp, or concealed by their friends, 
that no intelligence could be obtained. He then returned, 
his men declaring they could stay no longer, on account 
of their crops. I considered, therefore, that rather than 



236 WIRT S LIFE OF 

that they should wholly desert, it might be better to 
discharge them, and wait the coming of the Nansemond 
militia, when I trusted something might be done : but of 
those men I can hear no tidings ; and unless they or some 
other better men do come, it will be out of my power to 
effect any thing with the militia of this county ; for such is 
their cowardly disposition, joined to their disaffection, tha^ 
scarce a man, without being forced, can be raised to go after 
the outlyers. We have lost Capt. Wilson since his return: 
having some private business at a neighbour's, within a mile 
of his own house, he was fired on by four men concealed in 
the house, and wounded in such a manner that he died in 
a few hours ; and this will surely be the fate of a few others, 
if their request of the removal of the relations and friends of 
those villains be not granted, which I am again pressed to 
solicit for, and in which case neither assistance, pay, nor 
plunder, is expected ; conceiving that to distress their sup- 
porters is the only means by which we can root those 
wretches from us, and thereby establish peace and security 
to ourselves and families. 

" I am, with great respect, 
" Honourable sir, 

" Your most obedient humble servant, 
" John Wilson." 

"May 24. 
" A company of about fifty men are now come from Nan- 
semond; but I am informed by the captain, that they will 
not be kept above two days, five having deserted already. 

"Jno. Wilson." 
The governor immediately enclosed this letter to the 
house of delegates, with the following communication : — 



PATRICK HENRY. 237 

** The Honourable Benjamin Harrison, Esq., Speaker of 
the House of Delegates. 

" Williamsburg, May 27, 1778. 
« Sir, 

" I was always unwilling to trouble the general assembly 
with any thing that seemed of too little consequence for 
deliberation. In that view I have for some time considered 
the insurrection in Princess Anne and Norfolk. I have from 
time to time given orders to the commanding officers of those 
counties, to draw from the militia a force sufficient to quell 
it. These officers have often complained of the difficulty 
of the business, arising partly from the local circumstances 
attending it, but chiefly from the backwardness and even 
disaffection of the people. In order to remove the latter 
obstacle, I gave orders for one hundred men to be drawn out 
into this service, from Nansemond county ; but I am sorry 
to say, the almost total want of discipline in that and too 
many other militias in the state, seems to forbid the hope of 
their doing much to effect. 

" Col. Wilson, whose letter I enclose, has several times 
given me to understand, that, in his opinion, the removal of 
such families as are in league with the insurgents, was a step 
absolutely necessary, and has desired me to give orders 
accordingly. But thinking that the executive power is not 
competent to such a purpose, I must beg leave to submit the 
whole matter to the assembly, who are the only judges how 
far the methods of proceeding directed by law are to be 
dispensed with on this occasion. 

" A company of regulars, drawn from the several stations, 
will be ordered to co-operate with the militia, though indeed 
their scanty numbers will not permit it to be done without 



238 WIRTSLIFEOF 

hazard. But I cannot help thinking this ought to be 
encountered ; for an apparent disposition to disturb the 
peace of this state has been manifested by these people 
during the whole course of the present war. It seems, 
therefore, that no effort to crush these desperadoes should 
be spared. 

" My duty would no longer suffer me to withhold these 
several matters from the view of the general assembly, to 
whom I beg leave to refer them through you. 
" With great regard, 

" I have the honour to be, sir, 

" Your most obedient humble servant, 

"P. Henry." 

This letter was communicated to the house on the day of 
its date, and was immediately referred to a committee of the 
whole house, on the state of the commonwealth. That 
committee was immediately formed ; but not having time to 
go through the subject, had leave to sit again. On the next 
day the house again resolved itself into a committee of the 
whole, and after some time spent therein, the speaker re- 
sumed the chair, and Mr. Carter reported on the subject of 
Philips, as follows : — 

" Information being received, that a certain 
Philips, with divers others, his associates and confederates, 
have leviedwar against this commonwealth within the counties 
of Norfolk and Princess Anne, committing murders, burn- 
ing houses, wasting farms, and doing other acts of enormity, 
in defiance of the officers of justice — 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
if the said Phihps, his associates, and confede- 

rates, do not render themselves to some officer, civil or mili- 



PATRICK HENRY. 239 

tary, within this commonwealth, on or before day 

of June, in this present year, such of them as fail so to do, 
ought to be attainted of high treason ; and that, in the mean- 
time, and before such render, it shall be lawful for any 
person, with or without orders, to pursue and slay, or other- 
wise to take and deliver to justice, the said Philips, 
his associates and confederates." 

Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Tyler, were the com- 
mittee appointed to prepare and bring in a bill, pursuant to 
this resolution, which was reported on the same day, and 
read the first time. On the two succeeding days it was 
read a second and third time ; and thus regularly passed 
through the forms of the loiver house. It was communicated 
to the senate by Mr. Jefferson, on the 30th day of the 
month, and returned, passed by them, without amendment, 
on the first day of June, which was the last day of the 
session. The act, as it stands upon the statute book of the 
session, is as follows : — 

''An act to attaint Josiah Philips and others, unless they 
render themselves to justice within a certain time, 

"Whereas a certain Josiah Philips, labourer, of the 
parish of Lynhaven and county of Princess Anne, together 
with divers others, inhabitants of the counties of Princess 
Anne, and Norfolk, and citizens of this commonwealth, 
contrary to their fidelity, associating and confederating 
together, have levied war against this commonwealth, within 
the same, committing murders, burning houses, wasting 
farms, and doing other acts of hostility in the said counties 
of Princess Anne and Norfolk, and still continue to exercise 



240 WIRTS LIFE OF 

the same enormities on the good people of this common- 
wealth ; and, whereas, the delays which would attend the 
proceeding to outlaw the said offenders, according to the 
usual forms and procedures of the courts of law, would leave 
the said good people, for a long time exposed to murder and 
devastation : — 

" Be it, thercfo7'e, enacted hy the general assembly, 
That if the said Josiah Philips, his associates and confede- 
rates, shall not, on or before the last day of June, in the 
present year, render themselves to the governor, or to some 
member of the privy council, judge of the general court, 
justice of the peace, or commissioned officer of the regular 
troops, navy, or militia of this commonwealth, in order to their 
trials for the treasons, murders, and other felonies by them 
com.mitted, that, then, such of them, the said Josiah Philips, 
his associates and confederates, as shall not so render him or 
themselves, shall stand and be convicted and attainted of high 
treason, and shall suffer the pains of death, and incur all for- 
feitures, penalties, and disabilities, prescribed by the law 
against those convicted and attainted of high treason; and that 
execution of this sentence of attainder shall be done, by order 
of the general court, to be entered so soon as may be conve- 
niently, after notice that any of the said offenders are in cus- 
tody of the keeper of the public jail. And if any person 
committed to the custody of the keeper of the public jail, as 
an associate or confederate of the said Josiah Philips, shall 
allege that he hath not been of his associates or confederates, 
at any time after the first day of July, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, at which 
time the said murders and devastations were begun, a petit 
jury shall be summoned and charged, according to the forms 
of the law, to try, in the presence of the said court, the fact 



P A T III C K H E N R Y . 241 

SO alleged ; and if it be found against the defendant, execution 
of this act shall be done as before directed. 

" And that the good people of this commonwealth may 
not, in the meantime, be subject to the unrestrained hostili- 
ties of the said insurgents : Be it further enacted, That 
from and after the passing of this act, it shall be lawful for 
any person, with or without orders, to pursue and slay the 
said Josiah Philips, and any others who have been of his 
associates or confederates, at any time after the said first day 
of July aforesaid, and shall not have previously rendered him 
or themselves to any of the officers, civil or military, before 
described, or otherwise to take and deliver them to justice, to 
be dealt with according to law. Provided, that the person 
so slain be in arms at the time, or endeavouring to escape 
being taken." 

Philips was apprehended in the course of the autumn, and 
indicted by Mr. Edmund Randolph, attorney-general, for 
highway-robbery, simply. On this charge he ivas tried 
at the October term of the general court, convicted, and exe- 
cuted : so that the act of attainder was never brought to bear 
upon him at all. This is the whole case of Josiah Philips. 
The reader will judge whether Mr. Henry deserves censure 
for having communicated to the legislature the letter of 
Col. Wilson ; or whether that body acted with too much 
severity toward a wretch, who had not only set the laws of 
his country at defiance, but was waging a cruel and das- 
tardly war upen men without arms, upon women and chil- 
dren ; and acting, not the part of a brave and open enemy, 
but that of an enemy of the human family. 

Just at the close of Mr. Henry's administration, Virginia 
suffered an invasion of a few days, under the British officers 
Collin and Matthew. They seized Fort Nelson, near Nor- 
2H 21 



242 W I R T S L I F E O F 

folk, destroyed the naval stores at Gosport, burnt Suffolk, and 
disappeared before the militia could be rallied to chastise 
their insolence. This occurred in the month of May, 1779; 
and the facility and impunity with which the enterprise was 
accomplished, very probably suggested the more serious 
invasion of the state, which afterward took place under the 
traitor Arnold. 

It would seem, that a wish was entertained to re-elect Mr. 
Henry to the office of governor a fourth time, although the 
constitution declared him ineligible after the third year. The 
impression seems to have been that his appointment for the 
first year, not having been made by delegates who had them- 
selves been elected under the constitution, ought not to be 
counted as one of the constitutional years of service, Mr. 
Henry, however, had too scrupulous a respect for that instru- 
m.ent to accept the office, even in a doubtful case ; and, 
therefore, addressed the following letter to the speaker : — 

"May 28th, 1779. 
" Sir, 

" The term for which I had the honour to be elected 
governor by the late assembly being just about to expire, and 
the constitution, as I think, making me ineligible to that office, 
I take the liberty to communicate to the assembly through 
you, sir, my intention to retire in four or five days. 

" I have thought it necessary to give this notification of 
my design, in order that the assembly may have the earliest 
opportunity of deliberating upon the choice of a successor to 
me in office. With great regard, 

" I have the honour to be, sir, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

"P. Henry." 



PATRICK HENRY. 243 

Thus closed Mr. Henry's administration : and although he 
had not an opportunity of distinguishing it by any splendid 
achievements, it is honour enough that he had given univer- 
sal satisfaction, and that he retired with a popularity 
confirmed and increased. 

It has been thought best not to break the chain of the 
narrative, as to his public character, by noticing the changes 
which had before this time occurred in his domestic relations. 
It may be proper to pause here for the purpose of supplying 
this omission. 

His wife, the partner of his youth, and the solace of his 
earl)'- adversities, had died in the year 1775, after having 
made him the father of six children. The anguish of this 
blow was mitigated by the circumstance of her having been, 
for several years, in a state of ill health and of suffering, 
from which there was no hope of recovery ; and to her, 
therefore, death indeed " came like a friend to relieve her 
from pain.' 

Neither had the father lived to witness the promotion of 
his son to the highest honours of the republic. He had lived 
however, long enough to enjoy the first bloom of his fame, 
and to see him the most celebrated and rising cliaracter in 
the state. He had died about the year 1770, and left behind 
him a name highly respectable for every private and social 
virtue. 

His uncle, for whom he seems to have had a strong affec- 
tion, had died during his government, and in token of his 
affection and respect, had appointed him the executor of his 
will. 

His tender and indulgent mother still survived, and felt all 
that pure and exquisite delight, which the well-deserved 
honours of her son were calculated to inspire. 



244 WIRTS LIFE OF 

After the death of his wife, Mr. Henry sold the farm called 
Scotch Town, on which he had resided in Hanover, and 
purchased eight or ten thousand acres of valuable land in 
the county of Henry ; a county which had been erected 
during his government, and which had taken its name from 
him, as did afterwards its neighbouring county of Patrick 
In the year 1777, he intermarried with Dorothea, the daugh- 
ter of Mr. Nathaniel W. Dandridge, with whom, after the 
resignation or expiration of his office, he removed to his 
newly-acquired estate, called Leatherwood, and there resumed 
the practice of the law. In the year 1780, we find him again 
in the assembly, and one of the most active members in the 
house. 

During the winter session of this year. General Gates 
entered the city of Richmond from his southern campaign, 
where he had most wofully fulfilled General Lee's predic- 
tion.* His total defeat at Camden, and a series of subse- 
quent ill fortune, had left South Carolina completely in the 
hands of the victorious British ; and to increase his humilia- 
tion, congress had not only superseded him in that command, 
by the substitution of General Greene, but had passed a 
resolution requiring the commander-in-chief to order a court 
of inquiry on his conduct. Under these accumulated dis- 
graces, the unfortvmate general entered the city of Richmond ; 
when Mr. Henry moved a resolution which displays, in a 
most engaging light, the delicate and generous sensibility of 
his character ; it was as follows : — 

" Resolved, That a committee of four be appointed to wait 

* When Gen. Charles Lee heard of Gen. Gates's appointment to the 
command of the southern army, he foretold that " his northern laurels 
would be turned into southern willows.''^ 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 245 

on Major-general Gates, and to assure him of the high 
regard and esteem of this house ; tliat the remembrance of his 
former glorious services cannot be obliterated by any reverse 
of fortune ; but that this house, ever mindful of his great 
merit, will omit no opportunity of testifying to the world, the 
gratitude which, as a member of the American union, this 
country owes to him in his military character." 

The author may be permitted to say of a state, which is 
his only by adoption, that, in an assembly of Virginians, this 
generous resolution could not fail to pass unanimously. The 
committee appointed to communicate it to the general, were, 
Mr. Henry, Mr. Richard H. Lee, Mr. Zane, and General 
Nelson. We may be assured, that a committee, chosen 
with so much judgment,* discharged their duty in a manner 
the most grateful to the wounded feelings of the general ; 
and on the next day, Mr. Henry reported the following 
answer, which was spread upon the journal : — 

" Richmond, December 28th, 1780. 
" Sir, 

" I shall ever remember with the utmost gratitude, the 
high honour this day done me by the honourable the house 
of delegates of Virginia. When engaged in the noble cause 
of freedom and the United States, I devoted myself entirely 
to the service of obtaining the great end of their union. That 

* Mr. Henry, the mover, had recently closed his administration with 
honour, as the first republican governor of Virginia, and was the most 
considerable man in the commonwealth ; Mr. Lee was a member of 
the congress, whose vote we have just mentioned; Mr. Zane repre- 
sented *he county in which Gen. Gates lived ; and Gen. Nelson was 
the most popular military character in the state. 

21* 



246 W I R T S L 1 F E F 

I have been once unfortunate is my great mortification ; but. 
let the event of my future services be what they may, they 
will, as they always have been, be directed by the most 
faithful integrity, and animated by the truest zeal for the 
honour and interest of the United States. 

"Horatio Gates." 

The spring and summer of the next year presented a 
period of even deeper darkness than the autumn of 1776. 
Virginia, had not, hitherto, been the theatre of hostile opera- 
tions of a very serious character ; her sufferings had been 
rather those of sympathy with her northern and southern 
sisters ; but in this year the calamities of war were brought 
home to her own bosom. Arnold's invasion took place in 
January : having carried his ravages as high up as Richmond 
and Westham, he retired to Portsmouth, where he rested till 
April, when General Philips succeeded to the command, and 
paid another visit of desolation to Manchester. In the next 
month came Lord Cornwallis, with his victorious army from 
the south, driving every thing before him, and striking terror 
into whatsoever quarter he approached. Having formed a 
junction between his forces and those under the command of 
General Philips, there was no longer a military force in the 
state which had the power to resist him. The inferior body 
of republican troops, under the Marquis la Fayette, moved 
before him, without the ability to strike a blow ; and Corn- 
wallis roamed at pleasure, and without any apprehension, 
through the interior of the state. 

The seventh of May was the day appointed by law for the 
meeting of the assembly at Richmond. A few members met 
and took the oaths prescribed by law ; but the number not 



PATRICK HENRY. 247 

being sufficient to proceed to business, the house was 
adjourned from day to day until the 10th; when, upon 
information of the approach of the enemy, they adjourned 
to the 24th, to meet at Charlottesville. It was not until the 
28th, that a house was formed to proceed to business at this 
place ; when Mr. Benjamin Harrison was elected speaker, 
and after making the usual acknowledgments for that honour, 
proceeded to address the following remarks to the house ; 
which I quote, not because they are a very favourable speci- 
men of Mr. Harrison's oratory, but to show the panic which 
prevailed even among the first men of the country: — " The 
critical and dangerous situation of our country leads me to 
hope, that my recommending it to you to despatch the weighty 
matters that will be under your consideration, loith all conve- 
nient speed, will not be taken amiss ; the people expect that 
effectual and decisive measiues will be taken to rid them of 
an implacable enemy, that are now roaming at large in the 
very bowels of our coimtry, and I have no doubt of your 
answering their expectations ; the mode of doing this may 
indeed be difficult : but it not being my province to point it 
out, I shall leave it to your wisdom, in full confidence that 
every thing that is necessary for quieting the minds and 
dispelling the fears of our constituents, will be done." 

Eight days after this address, Mr. John Jouett, a citizen of 
the place, entered the town on horseback, at full speed, and 
announced the near and rapid approach of Tarlton, at the 
head of three hundred cavalry and mounted infantry. The 
house had just met, and was about to commence business, 
when the alarming cry of " Tarlton and the British," was 
spread through the village ; and they had scarcely taken 
time to adjourn informally to Staunton, when Tarlton rushed 



248 WIRTS LIFE OF 

like a thunderbolt into the village, in the confident expecta- 
tion of seizing the whole assembly ; but the birds had flown. 
He made seven of them only prisoners. The rest reassem- 
bled in Staunton, on the 7th of June. On the 10th of June, 
a false report of his approach produced another panic ; and 
the house having merely taken tirfte to resolve that they 
would meet at the Warm Springs, if it should be found dan- 
gerous to meet in Staunton on the next day ; and on their 
failure so to do, that the speaker might call a meeting, when 
and where he pleased, again broke up and dispersed. 

It was at this period of almost hopeless darkness, when 
the energies of the state seemed to have been pretty nearly 
paralyzed, that the project of a dictator was again revived ; 
and it is again highly probable, that Mr. Henry was the char- 
acter who was in view for that office. Inquiries have been 
made of the surviving members of that assembly to ascertain 
whether the project could be traced to him, or whether he 
had any kind of participation in the proposal ; but those 
inquiries have resulted in a conviction of his entire innocence. 
The project came from other quarters, and seems to have 
been the last refuge of that general despair which for a short 
time pervaded the whole commonwealth. 

But this period of deep darkness was the harbinger of 
breaking day. The morning dawned with the arrival of 
those aids from France, which Mr. Henry had so long ago 
predicted ; and the sun of American independence arose to 
set no more. He lived to witness the glorious issue of that 
revolution which his genius had set in motion ; and (to repeat 
his own prophetic language, before the commencement of the 
struggle) " to see America take her stand among the nations 
of the earth." The contest closed with the capture of Corn- 
wallis, at Little York, on the 19th of October, 1781 ; and thus, 



PATRICK HENRY. 249 

the ball of the revolution rested in the same state in which it 
had received the first impulse. 

This enlightened and patriotic statesman, however, was 
not yet inclined to indulge himself in that repose to which 
he was so well entitled. The constitution of the state had 
as yet been tried only in war, when the sense of common 
danger, and their ardour in the common cause, might of 
themselves have been sufficient to keep the people together, 
and to supply, in a good degree, the place of government. 

It was necessary to see how the instiaiment would work 
in peace ; whai assurance it gave of public order and well- 
regulated liberty ; or whether any, and what defects in the 
plan required amendment. 

There were other considerations, too, which called loudly 
for attention. The war had left the country in a most 
deplorable situation ; poor and in debt ; its warriors unre- 
quited ; its finances wholly deranged ; its jurisprudence 
imsettled ; and all its faculties weak, disordered, and exhaust- 
ed. This was no time for the patriot to quit his post. It 
demanded all his vigilance to guard the infant republic against 
the machinations of its enemies, both abroad and at home ; it 
required all his care and all his skill to heal the numerous 
disorders which had flowed from the war ; to nurse the new- 
born nation into health and strength ; to develop its resources, 
moral and physical ; and thus to give security and perma- 
nence to its liberties. 

With the view of contributing his aid to those great 

objects, Mr. Henry still continued to represent the county of 

his residence, in the legislature of the state, and controlled 

the proceedings of that body, with a weight of personal 

authority, and a power of eloquence, which it was extremely 

difficult, and indeed almost impossible to resist. A striking 
2 I 



250 WIRTS LIFE OF 

evidence of this power was given, immediately on the close 
of the revolution, in his advocating the return of the British 
refugees. The measure was most vehemently opposed. 
There was no class of human beings against whom such vio- 
lent and deep-rooted prejudices existed. The name of " British 
tory," was of itself enough, at that period, to throw almost 
any company in Virginia into flames, and was pretty generally 
a signal for a coat of tar and feathers ; a signal which was 
not very often disobeyed. Mr. Henry's proposition in favour 
of a class of people so odious could not fail to excite the 
strongest surprise ; and was, at first, received with a repug- 
nance apparently insuperable. 

The late Judge Tyler, then the speaker of the house, 
opposed it in the committee of the whole, with great warmth ; 
and in the course of the discussion, turning from the chair 
man to Mr. Henry, he asked him, " how he, above all other 
men, could think of inviting into his family, an enemy, 
from whose insults and injuries he had suffered so severely ?" 
To this Mr. Henry answered, that " the personal feelings of 
a politician ought not to be permitted to enter those walls. 
The question (he said) was a national one, and in deciding 
it, if they acted wisely, nothing would be regarded but the 
interest of the nation. On the altar of his country's good 
he was willing to sacrifice all personal resentments, all private 
wrongs — and he flattered himself, that he was not the only 
man in the house who was capable of making such a sacri- 
fice. We have, sir, (said he,) an extensive country, vnthout 
■population — what can be a more obvious policy than that 
this country ought to be peopled ? — people, sir, form the 
strength, and constitute the wealth of a nation. I want 
to see our vast forests filled up by some process a little more 
speedy than the ordinary course of nature. I wish to see 



PATRICKHENRY. 251 

these states rapidly ascending to that rank which their natural 
advantages authorize them to hold among the nations of the 
earth. Cast your eyes, sir, over this extensive country — 
observe the salubrity of your climate ; the variety and 
fertility of your soil — and see that soil intersected in every 
quarter by bold, navigable streams, flow^ing to the east and 
to the west, as if the finger of Heaven were marking out the 
course of your settlements, inviting you to enterprise, and 
pointing the way to wealth. Sir, you are destined, at some 
time or other, to become a great agricultural and commercial 
people ; the only question is, whether you choose to reach 
this point by slow gradations, and at some distant period — 
lingering on through a long and sickly minority — subjected, 
meanwhile, to the machinations, insults, and oppressions of 
enemies, foreign and domestic, without sufficient strength to 
resist and chastise them — or whether you choose rather to 
rush at once, as it were, to the full enjoyment of those high 
destinies, and be able to cope, single-handed, with the proud- 
est oppressor of the old world. If you prefer the latter course, 
as I trust you do, encourage emigration — encourage the 
husbandmen, the mechanics, the merchants of the old world, 
to come and settle in this land of promise — make it the home 
of the skilful, the industrious, the fortunate and happy, as 
Avell as the asylum of the distressed — fill up the measure of 
your population as speedily as you can, by the means which 
Heaven hath placed in your power — and I venture to pro- 
phesy there are those now living, who will see this favoured 
land amongst the most powerful on earth — able, sir, to take 
care of herself, without resorting to that policy which is 
always so dangerous, though sometimes unavoidable, of cal- 
ling in foreign aid. Yes, sir — they will see her great in arts 
and in arms — her golden harvests waving over fields of 



252 WIRT S LIFE OF 

immeasurable extent — her commerce penetrating the most 
distant seas, and her cannon silencing the vain boasts of those 
who now proudly affect to rule the waves. But, sir, you 
must have men — you cannot get along without them — those 
heavy forests of valuable timber, under which your lands are 
groaning, must be cleared away — those vast riches which 
cover the face of your soil, as well as those which lie hid in 
its bosom, are to be developed and gathered only by the skill 
and enterprise of men — your timber, sir, must be worked up 
into ships, to transport the productions of the soil from which 
it has been cleared — then, you must have commercial men 
and commercial capital, to take off your productions, and find 
the best markets for them abroad — your great want, sir, is 
the want of men ; and these you must have, and will have 
spee<lily, if you are wise. 

" Do you ask how you are to get them ? — Open your doors, 
sir, and they will come in — the population of the old world 
is full to overflowing — that population is ground, too, by the 
oppressions of the governments under which they live. Sir, 
they are already standing on tiptoe upon their native shores, 
and looking to your coasts with a wishful and longing eye — 
they see here a land blessed with natural and political advan- 
tages, which are not equalled by those of any other country 
upon earth — a land on which a gracious Providence hath 
emptied the horn of abundance — a land over which peace 
hath now stretched forth her white wings, and where content 
and plenty lie down at every door ! Sir, they see something 
still more attractive than all this — they see a land in which 
liberty hath taken up her abode — that liberty, whom they had 
considered as a fabled goddess, existing only in the fancies 
of poets — they see her here a real divinity — her altars rising 
on every hand throughout these happy states — her glories 



PATRICK HENRY. 253 

chanted by three millions of tongues — and the whole region 
smiling under her blessed influence. Sir, let but this our 
celestial goddess, Liberty, stretch forth her fair hand toward 
the people of the old world — tell them to come, and bid them 
welcome — and you will see them pouring in from the north, 
from the south, from the east, and from the west — your wil- 
dernesses will be cleared and settled — your deserts will 
smile — your ranks will be filled — and you will soon be in a 
condition to defy the powers of any adversary. 

" But gentlemen object to any accession from Great 
Britain — and particularly to the return of the British refugees. 
Sir, I feel no objection to the return of those dehided people 
— they have, to be sure, mistaken their own interests most 
wofully, and most wofully have they suffered the punishment 
due to their offences. But the relations which we bear to 
them and to their native country are now changed — their 
king hath acknowledged our independence — the quarrel is 
over — peace hath returned, and found us a free people. Let 
us have the magnanimity, sir, to lay aside our antipathies 
and prejudices, and consider the subject in a political light. 
Those are an enterprising, moneyed people — they will be 
serviceable in taking off the surplus produce of our lands, 
and supplying us with necessaries, during the infant state of 
our manufactures. Even if they be inimical to us in point, 
of feeling and principle, I can see no objection, in a political 
view, in making them tributary to our advantage. And as I 
have no prejudices to prevent my making this use of them, 
so, sir, I have no fear of any mischief that they can do us> 
Afraid of them ! — what, sir," — said he, rising to one of his 
loftiest attitudes, and assuming a look of the most indignant 
and sovereign contempt, — " shall we, who have laid the proud 
British Hon at our feet, now be afraid of his ivhelps ?" 



254 WIRTSLIFEOF 

The force of this figure, and the energy with which it was 
brought out, are said to have produced an effect that made 
the house start simuhaneously. It continued to be admired, 
long after the occasion which gave it birth had passed away, 
and was frequently quoted by Mr. Wythe to his students, 
while professor of law at William and Mary college, as a 
happy specimen of those valuable figures, which unite the 
beauty of decoration with the effect of argument. 

The gentleman to whom I am indebted for the preceding 
incident,* has favoured me also with the following one, 
which I shall give m his own words : — 

" Mr. Henry espoused the measure which took off the 
restraints on British commerce, before any treaty was 
entered into ; in which I opposed him on this ground, that 
that measure would expel from this country the trade of every 
other nation, on account of our habits, language, and the 
manner of conducting business on credit between us and 
them : also on this ground, in addition to the above, that if we 
changed the then current of commerce, we should drive away 
all competition, and never perhaps should regain it, (which 
has literally happened). In reply to these observations, he 
was beyond all expression eloquent and sublime. After 
painting the distresses of the people, struggling through a 
perilous war, cut off from commerce so long that they were 
naked, and unclothed, he concluded with a figure, or rather 
with a series of figures, which I shall never forget, because, 
beautiful as they were in themselves, their effect was height- 
ened beyond all description, by the manner in which he acted 

* Judge Tyler. 



PATRICK HENRY. 255 

what he spoke : — ' Wliy,' said he, ' should we fetter com- 
merce ? If a man is in chains, he droops and bows to the 
earth, for his spirits are broken, (looking sorrowfully at his 
feet:) but let him twist the fetters from his legs, and he will 
stand erect,' — straightening himself, and assuming a look of 
proud defiance. — ' Fetter not commerce, sir — let her be as 
free as air — she will range the whole creation, and return on 
the wings of the four winds of heaven, to bless the land with 
plenty.' " 

In the fall session of 1784, Mr. Henry proposed and advo- 
cated several measures which deserve particular mention : — 
one of them, on account of the originality and boldness of 
mind from which it proceeded; and others, because they 
have sometimes been made the subjects of censure against 
him. The first respects the Indians. Those unfortunate 
beings, the natural enemies of the white people, whom they 
regarded as lawless intruders into a country set apart for 
themselves by the Great Spirit, had continued, from their 
first landing, to harass the white settlements, and hang, like 
a pestilence on their frontier, as it advanced itself toward the 
west. The story of their accumulated wrongs, handed down 
by tradition from father to son, and emblazoned with all the 
colours of Indian oratory, had kept their w^ar-fires smoking 
from age to age, and the hatchet and scalping-knife perpet- 
ually bright. They had long since abandoned the hope of 
being able, by their single strength, to exterminate the usur- 
pers of their soil ; but either from the spirit of habitual and 
deadly revenge, or from the policy of checking, as far as they 
could, the perpetually extending encroachments of the white 
men, they had waged an unremitting war upon their borders, 
marked with horrors which eclipse the wildest fictions of 



256 WIRTSLIFEOF 

the legendary tale.* These people, too, besides the mis- 
chiefs to which they were prompted by their own feelings 
and habits, were an ever-ready and a most terriffic scourge, 
in the hands of any enemy with whom this country might be 
at variance, Dunmore, although thanked at the time for his 
services, was afterward believed, by the house of burgesses, 
to have made use of them in the years 1774-5, in order to 
draw off the attention of the colonists from the usurpation of 
the British court : and, in the recent war of the revolution, 
that merciless enemy had been again let loose upon our 
frontier, with all the terrors of savage warfare. The return 
of peace with Britain had given us but a short respite from 
their hostilities. I perceive, by the journal of the house of 
delegates, that on the 5th of November, 1784, it was, on the 
motion of Mr. Henry, 

" Resolved, That the governor, with the advice of council, 
be requested to adopt such measures as may be found neces- 

*The stories of these border skirmishes, which yet live in the tra- 
ditions of the west, are highly worthy of collection. They exhibit 
scenes of craft, boldness, and ferocity, on the part of the savages, and 
of heroic and desperate defence by the semi-barbarous men, women, 
and children, who were the objects of these attacks, which mark the 
characters of both sides in a most interesting manner. Those tales 
of the long, obstinate, and bloody defence of log-cabins ; of the almost 
incredible achievements of women and little boys; of the sometimes 
total and sometimes partial havoc of families ; of the captivity, tor- 
tures, and death of some ; and the miraculous escape, wanderings, 
and preservation of others — would form a book of more interest than 
any other that could be put into the hands of a Virginia reader ; and 
would furnish the subject of many a novel, drama, and painting. The 
adventure of Captain Smith and Pocahontas, if you put aside the 
dignity of their characters, is cold and tame, when compared with 
some which are related among the western inhabitants of this state. 



PaT HICK HENRY. 257 

sary to avert the danger of hostilities with the Indians, and 
to indine them to treat with the commissioners of conffress : 
and for that purpose to draw on the treasury for any sum of 
money not exceeding one thousand pounds, which shall stand 
charged to the account of money issued for the contino-ent 
charges of government." 

A treaty with the Indians, however, was well known to be 
a miserable expedient ; the benefits of which would scarcely 
last as long as the ceremonies that produced it. The reflect- 
ing politician could not help seeing, that, in order to remove 
the annoyance effectually, the rem.edy must go to the root of 
the disease — that that inveterate and fatal enmity which 
rankled in the hearts of the Indians must be eradicated — 
that a common interest and congenial feelings between them 
and their white neighbours must be created — and humanity 
and civilization gradually superinduced upon the Indian 
character. The difficulty lay in devising a mode to effect 
these objects. The white people who inhabited the frontier, 
from the constant state of warfare in Avhich they lived with 
the Indians, had imbibed much of their character ; and 
learned to delight so highly in scenes of crafty, bloody, and 
desperate conflict, that they as often gave as they received 
the provocation to hostilities. 

Hunting, which was their occupation, became dull and 
tiresome, unless diversified occasionally by the more ani- 
mated and piquant amusement of an Indian skirmish ; just as 
" the blood more stirs to rouse a lion than to start a hare." 
The policy, therefore, which was to produce the deep and 
beneficial change that was meditated, must have respect to 
both sides, and be calculated to implant kind affections in 
bosoms which at present were filled only with reciprocal and 
2K 



258 WIRTS LIFE OF 

deadly hatred. The remedy suggested by Mr, Henry was 
to encourage marriages between these contermmous enemies ; 
and having succeeded, in the committee of the whole house, 
in procuring the report of a resolution to this effect, he pre- 
pared a bill which he is said to have advocated with irresist- 
ible earnestness and eloquence.* The inducemenis held out 

* This bill, which is thought worthy of preservation, as a political 
curiosity, is as follows : — 

"A bill for the encouragement of marriages with the Indians. 

" Whereas, intermarriages between the citizens of this common- 
wealth and the Indians living in its neighbourhood, may have great 
effect in conciliating the friendship and confidence of the latter, where- 
by not only their civilization may in some degree be finally brought 
about, but in the meantime, their hostile inroads be prevented : for 
encouraging such intermarriages. Be it enacted by the General 
Assembly, That if any free white male inhabitant of this common- 
wealth shall, according to the laws thereof, enter into the bonds of 
matrimony with an Indian female, being of lawful age, and under no 
precontract to any Indian male, and shall thereby induce her to become 
an inhabitant of this commonwealth, and to live with him in the char- 
acter of a wife, such male inhabitant, on producing a certificate of such 
marriage, under the hand and seal of the person celebrating the same, 

shall be entitled to receive a premium of pounds, out of any 

unappropriated money which the treasurer may have in his hands, or 
of such money as may hereafter be appropriated to such use ; shall, 

over and above such premium, be entitled to the sum of pounds, 

for every child proceeding from such marriage, on a certificate of the 
birth thereof, and their apparent cohabitancy, under the hand and seal 
of any one justice of the peace of the county in which he resides, and 
shall, moreover, be exempted from all taxes on his person and property 
for and during the time of such cohabitancy. 

"And be it further enacted. That if any free female inhabitant of 
this commonAvealth shall, in like manner, intennarry with any male 
Indian of lawful age, they shall, on a certificate thereof, as aforesaid, 
be entitled to pounds, to be paid as aforesaid, and laid out undei 



PATRICK HENRY. 259 

by this bill, to promote these marriages, were, pecuniary- 
bounties to be given on the certificate of marriage, and to be 
repeated at the birth of each child ; exemption from taxes ; 
and the free use of a seminary of learning, to be erected for 
the purpose, and supported at the expense of the state. 

While Mr. Henry continued a member of the house, the 
progress of this bill was unimpeded. It passed through a 
first and second reading, and was engrossed for its final 
passage, when his election as governor took effect, and dis- 

the direction of the court of the county Avithin which such marriage 
shall be celebrated, in the purchase of live stock, for his and her use, 
and such male Indian shall be annually, on the first day of October, 

entitled to pounds, to be paid as aforesaid, and laid out imder 

the direction of the said court, in the purchase of clothes for his use ; 
and each male child proceeding from such intermarriage, shall, at the 

age of be removed to such public seminary of learning, as the 

executive may direct, and be there educated until the age of twenty- 
one, at the public expense, to be defrayed out of such funds as may 
hereafter be appropriated to the same. And the governor, with the 
advice of council, is hereby authorized and desired to cause the benefit 
of this provision to be extended to all such male children ; and if any 
such male Indian shall become an inhabitant of this commonwealth, 
he shall be moreover exempted from all taxes on his person or the 
property he may acquire. 

" And be it further enacted, That the offspring of the intermarriages 
aforesaid, shall be entitled, in all respects, to the same rights and 
privileges, under the laws of this commonwealth, as if they had pro- 
ceeded from intermarriages among free white inhabitants thereof. 

"And be it further enacted, That the executive do take the most 
effectual and speedy measures for promulgating this act to such tribe 
or tribes of Indians as they may think necessary." 

On the third reading of the bill, the first blank was filled with ten — 
the second with fivs — the third with ten — the fourth with three — and 
the fifth with ten years. 



260 WIRTS LIFE OF 

placed him from the floor : on the third day after which event 
the bill was read a third time and rejected. 

It were a useless waste of time to speculate on the proba 
ble effects of this measure, had it succeeded. It is considered, 
however, as indicative of great humanity of character, and as 
marked with gi-eat boldness, if not soundness of policy. Mr. 
Henry is said to have been extremely sanguine as to its effi- 
cacy, and to have supported it by some of the highest 
displays of his eloquence. 

The other two measures to which I have adverted, as 
having been patronised by Mr. Henry, at this session, were, 
the incorporation of the Protestant Episcopal church, and 
what is called " a general assessment." These measures 
have been frequently stated, in conversation, as proofs of a 
leaning on the part of Mr. Henry, toward an established 
church, and that, too, the aristocratic church of England. 
To test the justness of this charge, the journals of the house 
of delegates have been examined, and this is the result of the 
evidence which they furnish: on the 17th of November, 
1784, Mr. Matthews reported from the committee of the 
whole house, on the state of the commonwealth, the following 
resolution : — 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
acts ought to pass for the incorporation of all societies of the 
Christian religion, xohich may apply for the same" 

The ays and noes having been called for, on the passage 
of this resolution, were, ays, sixty-two, noes, twenty-three , 
Mr. Henry being with the majority. 

The principle being thus established in relation to all 
religious societies, which should desire a legal existence for 



PATRICK HENRY. 261 

the benefit of acquiring and holding property to the use of 
their respective churches, leave was given, on the same day, 
to bring in a bill to incorporate the clergy of the Protestant 
Episcopal church, which had brought itself within that prin- 
ciple by having applied for an act of incorporation ; and Mr. 
Henry was one, but not the chairman,* of the committee 
appointed to bring in that bill. How a measure which holds 
out to all religious societies, equally, the same benefit, can 
be charged with partiality, because accepted by one only, it 
is not very easy to discern. It would seem, to an ordinary 
mind, that, on the same principle, the Christian religion itself 
might be charged with partiality, since its offers, though 
made to all, are accepted but by few : and it is very certain, 
that if Mr. Henry is to be suspected of a bias toward an 
established church, on account of this vote, the charge will 
reach some of the foremost and best-established republicans 
in the state, whose names stand recorded with Mr. Henry's 
on this occasion, and who hold to this day the undiminished 
confidence of their countrymen. 

The other measure, the general assessment, proceeded 
from a number of petitions from different counties of the 
commonwealth, which prayed, that as all persons enjoyed the 
benefits of religion, all might be required to contribute to the 
expense of supporting some form of worship or other. The 
committee to whom these petitions were referred, reported a 
bill whose preamble sets forth the grounds of the proceeding, 
and furnishes a conclusive refutation of the charge of par- 
tiality to any particular form of religion. The bill is entitled, 
" A bill, establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian 

* The chairman was Mr. Carter H. Harrison ; the rest of the com- 
mittee were, Mr. Henry, Mr. Thomas Smith, Mr. WiUiam Anderson, 
and Mr. Tazewell. 



2G2 WIRTS LIFE OF 

religion ;" and its preamble is in the following words : — 
" Whereas the general diffusion of Christian knowledge hath 
a natural tendency to correct the morals of men, restrain 
their vices, and preserve the peace of society ; which cannot 
be effected without a competent provision for learned teachers, 
who may be thereby enabled to devote their time and atten- 
tion to the duty of instructing such citizens as, from their 
circumstances and want of education, cannot otherwise attain 
such knowledge ; and it is judged such provision may be 
made by the legislature, tvithout counteracting the liberal 
principle heretofore adopted and intended to he preserved, 
hy abolishing all distinctions of pre-eminence amongst the 
different societies or communities of Christians.^'' The pro- 
visions of the bill are in the strictest conformity with the 
principles announced in the close of the preamble ; the per- 
sons subject to taxes are required, at the time of giving in a 
list of their titheables, to declare to what particular religious 
society they chose to appropriate the sums assessed upon 
them, respectively ; and, in the event of their failing or de- 
clining to specify any appropriation, the sums thus circum- 
stanced are directed to be paid to the treasurer, and applied 
by the general assembly to the encouragement of seminaries 
of learning, in the counties where such sums shall arise. 
If there be any evidence of a leaning toward any particular 
religious sect in this bill, or any indication of a desire for an 
established church, the author of these sketches has not been 
able to discover them. Mr. Henry was a sincere believer in 
the Christian religion, and had a strong desire for the suc- 
cessful propagation of the gospel, but there was no tincture 
of bigotry or intolerance in his sentiments ; nor have I been 
able to learn that he had a punctilious preference for any 
particular form of worship. His faith regarded the vital 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 263 

spirit of the gospel, and busied itself not at all with external 
ceremonies or controverted tenets. 

Both these bills, " for incorporating the Protestant Epis- 
copal church," and " establishing a provision for teachers of 
the Christian religion," were reported after Mr. Henry had 
ceased to be a member of the house ; but the resolutions on 
which they were founded were adopted while he continued a 
member, and had his warmest support. The first bill passed 
into a law ; the last was rejected by a small majority, on the 
third reading. 

The same session afforded Mr. Henry a double opportunity 
of gratifying, in the most exquisite manner, that naturally 
bland and courteous spirit, which so eminently distinguished 
his character. General Waslnngton and the Marquis la 
Fayette, both of them objects of the warmest love and grati- 
tude to this country, visited Richmond in Novemiber. They 
arrived on different days. The general entered the city on 
the 15th, and the journal of the next morning exhibits the 
following order : — 

" The house being informed of the anival of General 
Washington in this city, Resolved, nemine contradicente, 
that as a mark of their reverence for his character, and affec- 
tion for his person, a committee of five members be appointed 
to wait upon him, with the respectful regard of this house, 
to express to him the satisfaction they feel in the opportunity 
afforded by his presence of offering this tribute to his merits ; 
and to assure him, that as they not only retain the most 
lasting impressions of the transcendent services rendered 
in his late public character, but have, since his return to 
private life, experienced proofs that no change of situation 
can turn his thoughts from the welfare of his country, so his 



264 WIRTS LIFE OF 

happiness can never cease to be an object of their most 
devout wishes and fervent supphcations. 

" And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. Jones, 
(of King George,) Mr. Madison, Mr. Carter H. Harrison, 
and Mr. Carrington." 

To this spontaneous and unanimous burst of feehng, 
General Washington returned an answer marked with his 
characteristic modesty, and full of the most touching sensi- 
bility. It is worthy of insertion, as showing, in a soft and 
winning light, a character with which we are apt to associate 
only the images of a dignity and reserve, approaching to 
sternness. " Gentlemen," said he, " my sensibility is deeply 
affected by this distinguished mark of the affectionate regard 
of your honourable house. I lament, on this occasion, the 
■vt'^nt of those powers which would enable me to do justice 
to my feelings, and shall rely upon your indulgent report to 
supply the defect ; at the same time, I pray you to present 
for me, the strongest assurances of unalterable affection and 
gratitude, for this last pleasing and flattering attention of my 
country." 

The marquis, who had been to France since the close of 
hostilities, made his entree on the morning of the 17th of 
November; and the house, immediately on its meeting, 
came to the following resolution : — 

" The liouse being informed of the arrival, this morning, 
of the Marquis de la Fayette in this city. Resolved, nemine 
contradicente, that a committee of five be appointed, to 
present to him the affectionate respects of this house, to 
signify to him their sensibility to the pleasing proof given 



PATRICK HENRY. 265 

by this visit to the United States, and to this state in particu- 
lar, that the benevolent and honourable sentiments which 
originally prompted him to embark in the hazardous fortunes 
of America, still render the prosperity of its affairs an object 
of his attention and regard ; and to assure him, that they 
cannot review the scenes of blood and danger through which 
we have arrived at the blessings of peace, without being 
touched, in the most lively m-anner, with the recollection, not 
only of the invaluable services for which the United States 
at large are so much indebted to him, but of that conspicuous 
display of cool intrepidity and wise conduct, during his com- 
mand in the campaign of 1781, which, by having so essen- 
tially served this state in particular, have given him so just 
a title to its particular acknowledgments. That, impressed 
as they thus are with the distinguished lustre of his character, 
they cannot form a wish more suitable, than that the lessen 
it affords may inspire all those whose noble minds may 
emulate his glory, to pursue it by means equally auspicious 
to the interests of humanity. 

" And a committee was appointed of Mr. Henry, Mr. 
Madison, Mr. Jones, (of King George,) Mr. Matthews, and 
Mr. Brent." 

To this address, the marquis made the following poUte and 
feeling answer : — 

" Gentlemen, 

" With the most respectful thanks to your honourable 
body, permit me to acknowledge, not only the flattering 
favour they are now pleased to confer, but also the constant 
partiahty, and unbounded confidence of this siaie, which in 
trying limes, T have so happily experienced. Through the 

23 



266 WIRT S LIFE OF 

continent, gentlemen, it is most pleasing for me to join with 
my friends in mutual congratulations ; and I need not add 
what my sentiments must be in Virginia, where step by step 
have I so keenly felt for her distress, so eagerly enjoyed her 
recovery. Our armed force was obliged to retreat, but your 
patriotic hearts stood unshaken ; and, while either at that 
period, or in our better hours, my obligations to you are 
numberless ; I am happy in this opportunity to observe, 
that the excellent services of your militia were continued 
with unparalleled steadiness. Impressed with the necessity 
of federal union, I was the more pleased in the command of 
an army so peculiarly federal ; as Virginia herself freely bled 
in defence of her sister states. 

" In my wishes to this commonwealth, gentlemen, I will 
persevere with the sam.e zeal, that once and for ever has 
devoted me to her. May her fertile soil rapidly increase her 
wealth — may all the waters which so luxuriantly flow within 
her limits, be happy channels of the most extensive trade — 
and may she in her wisdom, and the enjoyment of prosperity, 
continue to give the world unquestionable proofs of her phi- 
lanthropy and her regard for the liberties of all mankind. 

" La Fayette." 

Time had now brought forward several new political char- 
acters, who had risen high in the public estimation : but Mr. 
Henry and Mr. Lee still kept their ground far in the van. A 
gentleman of great distinction, who began his public career 
in 1783, found both these eminent men in the house of dele- 
gates, and heard them for the first time in debate : he served 
through the two sessions of that and those of the following 
year, and has communicated to me so vivid and interesting a 
comparison of their merits, as they struck his young and 



PATRICK HENRY. 267 

ardent mind, that I cannot consent to withhold it from tiie 
reader. 

" I met with Patrick Henry in the assembly in May, 1783. 
I also then met with Richard H. Lee. I lodged with Mr. 
Lee one or two sessions, and was perfectly acquainted with 
him, while I was yet a stranger to Mr. Henry. These two 
gentlemen were the great leaders in the house of delegates, 
and were almost constantly opposed : there were many other 
great men who belonged to that body ; but, as orators, they 
cannot be named with Henry or Lee. Mr. Lee was a pol- 
ished gentleman : he had lost the use of one of his hands, 
but his manner was perfectly graceful. His language was 
always chaste, and although somewhat too monotonous, his 
speeches were always pleasing ; yet he did not ravish your 
senses, nor carry away your judgment by storm. His was 
the mediate class of eloquence described by Rollin in his 
belles lettres ; he was like a beautiful river, meandering 
through a flowery mead, but which never overflowed its 
banks. It was Henry who was the mountain torrent that 
swept away every thing before it : it was he alone who thun- 
dered and lightened : he alone attained that sublime species 
of eloquence also mentioned by Rollin. 

" It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to 
hear these two great masters, almost constantly opposed to 
each other, for several sessions. I had no relish for any 
other speaker. Henry was almost always victorious. He 
was as much superior to Lee in temper as in eloquence ; for 
while, with a modesty approaching almost to humility, he 
would apologise to the house for being so often " obliged to 
differ from the honourable gentleman, which he assured them, 
was from no want of respect for him." Lee was frequently 



268 WIRT S LIFE OF 

much chafed by the opposition ; and I once heard him say- 
aloud, and petulantly, after sustaining a great defeat, that 'if 
the votes were weighed instead of being counted, he should 
not have lost it.'* 

" Mr. Henry was inferior to Mr. Lee m the gracefulness 
of his action, and perhaps also the chasteness of his language ; 
y et his language was seldom incorrect, and his address always 
striking. He had a fine blue eye, and an earnest manner, 
which made it impossible not to attend to him. His speaking 
was unequal, and always rose with the subject and the exi- 
gency. In this respect he differed entirely from Mr. Lee, 

* This hit of Mr. Lee's was thought a very happy one at the time. 
I have heard it mentioned by several others who were members of the 
house, particularly by Judge Tyler. This gentleman represented it 
as having occurred after a division and count of the house, and just as 
the members were about to return to their seats. A member who was 
in the majority, and who was not very remarkable either for intellect 
or urbanity, said, with a coarse laugh, to Mr. Lee, 'Well, you see you 
have lost it." Upon which the latter, looking at him with rather a 
contemptuous and sneering countenance, answered, " Yes, I have lost 
it, but if votes were weighed instead of being counted^ I should not 
have lost it." 

Was this thought original in Mr. Lee, or had he unconsciously 
borrowed it from the younger Piiny ? " Sed hoc pluribus [levius] 
visum est. Numerantur enim sententice, non ponderantur : nee 
aliud in publico consilio potest fieri, in quo nihil est tam insequale, 
quam aequalitas ipsa; nan cum sit impar prudentia, par omnium jus 
est."— Pun. Epist. Lib.IL Epist. XII. 

"Yet these reflections, it seems, made no impression upon the 
majority. Votes go by number, not iceight ; nor can it be otherwise 
in assemblies of this kind, where nothing is more unequal than that 
equality which prevails in them ; for though every member has the 
same weight of suffrage, every member has not the same strength of 
judgment."— Melmoth's Translation of Pliny. London, 1718. 



PATRICK HENRY. 269 

who was always equal, and therefore less interesting. At 
some times, Mr. Henry wonld seem to hobble, (especially at 
the beginning of his speeches,) and at others, his tones would 
be almost disagreeable : yet it was by means of his tones, 
and the happy modulation of his voice, that his speaking had 
perhaps its greatest effect. He had a happy articulation — a 
clear, bold, strong voice — and every syllable was distinctly 
uttered. He was always very unassuming, and very respect- 
ful toward his adversaries ; the consequence was, that no 
feeling of disgust or animosity was arrayed against him. He 
was great at a reply, and greater in proportion to the pressure 
which was bearing upon him ; and it seemed to me, from the 
frequent opportunities of observation afforded me during the 
period of which I have spoken, that the resources of his 
mind and of his eloquence were equal to any drafts which 
could possibly be made upon them." 

This inequality in the speeches of Mr. Henry was imputed 
by some of his observers to art. He always spoke, they say, 
for victory, and wishing to carry every one with him, adapted 
the different parts of his discourse to their different capacities. 
A critic of a higher order would sometimes think him trifling, 
when in truth he was making a most powerful impression on 
the weaker members of the house. By these means, it is 
said, he contrived to worm his way through the whole body, 
and to insinuate his influence into every mind. When he 
hobbled, it was like the bird that thus artfully seeks to decoy 
away the foot of the intruder from the precious deposite of 
her brood ; and at the moment when it would be thought 
that his strength was almost exhausted, he would spring 
magnificently from the earth, and tower above the clouds. 

He knew all the local interests and prejudices of every 
quarter of the state, and of every county in it ; and whether 

23* 



270 WIRTS LIFE OF 

these prejudices were rational or irrational, it is said that he 
would appeal to them without hesitation, and, whenever he 
found it necessary, enlist them in his cause. His address 
on these occasions has been highly admired even by those 
who have censured the course as deficient in dignity and 
candour. It was executed with so much delicacy and 
adroitness, and covered under a countenance of such apos- 
tolic solemnity, that the persons on whom he was operating 
were unconscious of the design. Winding his way thus 
artfully through the house, from county to county, from 
prejudice to prejudice, with the power of moving them, when 
he pleased, from tears to laughter, from laughter to tears, of 
astonishing their imaginations, and overwhelming their 
judgments and hearts, it is easy to conceive how irresistible 
he must have been. When with these prodigious faculties 
the reader connects his engaging deportment out of the 
house — the uncommon kindness and gentleness of his nature 
— the simplicity, frankness, and amenity of his manners — the 
innocent playfulness and instruction of his conversation — the 
integrity of his life — and the high sense of the services which 
he had rendered to the cause of liberty and his country — he 
will readily perceive, that the opinions and wishes of such a 
man would be, of themselves, almost decisive of any question. 
The artifice of resorting to erroneous local prejudices, in a 
legislative debate, is certainly not to be commended. Truth 
stands in need of no such aids. It must be admitted that 
there is more purity, as well as dignity, in supporting a sound 
measure by sound arguments only : and we must be pre- 
pared to become Jesuits, before we can justify a resort to 
wrong means to promote even a right end. In excuse of 
Mr. Henry, we have nothing to urge except immemorial 
and almost universal usage ; and it is moreover highly prob- 



PATRICK HENRY. 271 

able, that many of the instances, in which he was acciised 
of resorting improperly to local prejudices, were cases in which 
the questions were, from their nature, to be decided in a great 
measure by local interests. Of this description is the follow- 
ing one, now furnished, at my request, in writing, by Judge 
Archibald Stuart, from whom I had the pleasure to hear it 
in conversation several years ago : — 

"At your request, I attempt a narrative of the extraordi- 
nary effects of Mr. Henry's eloquence in the Virginia legis- 
lature, about the year 1784, when I was present as a member 
of that body. 

" The finances of the country had been much deranged 
during the war, and public credit was at a low ebb ; a party 
in the legislature thought it then high time to place the char- 
acter and credit of the state on a more respectable footing, 
by laying taxes commensurate with all the public demands. 
With this view, a bill had been brought into the house, and 
referred to a committee of the whole; in support of which 
the then speaker, (Mr. Tyler,) Henry Tazewell, Mann Page, 
William Ronald, and many other members of great respecta- 
bility, (including, to the best of mj'' recollection, Richard H. 
Lee, and, perhaps, Mr. Madison,) took an active part. Mr. 
Henry, on the other hand, was of opinion that this was a 
premature attempt ; that policy required that the people 
should have some repose after the fatigues and privations to 
which they had been subjected, during a long and arduous 
struggle for independence. 

"The advocates of the bill, in committee of the whole 
house, used their utmost efforts, and were successful in con- 
forming it to their views, by sucli a majority (say thirty) as 
seemed to ensure its passage. When the committee rose, the 



272 WIRT'S LIFE OF 

bill was instantly reported to the house ; when Mr. Henry, 
who had been excited and roused by his recent defeat, came 
forward again in all the majesty of his power. For some 
time after he commenced speaking, the countenances of his 
opponents indicated no apprehension of danger to their 
cause. 

" The feelings of Mr. Tyler, which were sometimes warm, 
could not on that occasion be concealed, even in the chair. 
His countenance was forbidding, even repulsive, and his face 
turned from the speaker. Mr. Tazewell was reading a 
pamphlet: and Mr. Page was more than usually grave. 
After some time, however, it was discovered that Mr. Tyler's 
countenance gradually began to relax ; he would occasionally 
look at Mr. Henry ; sometimes smile : his attention by degrees 
became more fixed ; at length it became completely so: — he 
next appeared to be in good humour ; he leaned toward Mr. 
Henry — appeared charmed and delighted, and finally lost in 
wonder and amazement. The progress of these feelings was 
legible in his countenance. 

" Mr. Henry drew a most affecting picture of the state of 
poverty and suffering in which the people of the upper coun- 
ties had been left by the war. His delineation of their wants 
and wretchedness was so minute, so full of feeling, and with- 
al so true, that he could scarcely fail to enlist on his side 
every sympathetic mind. He contrasted the severe toil by 
which they had to gain their daily subsistence, with the 
facilities enjoyed by the people of the lower counties. The 
latter, he said, residing on the salt rivers and creeks, could 
draw their supplies at pleasure, from the waters that flowed 
by their dot)rs ; and then he presented such a ludicrous image 
of the members who had advocated the bill, (the most of 
whom were from the~lower counties,) peeping and peering 



PATRICK HENRY. 273 

along the shores of the creeks, to pick up their mess of crabs, 
or addhng off to the oyster-rocks, to rake for their daily 
bread* as filled the house with a roar of merriment. Mr. 
Tazewell laid down his pamphlet, and shook his sides with 
laughter ; even the gravity of Mr. Page was affected ; a cor- 
responding change of countenance prevailed through the ranks 
of the advocates of the bill, and you might discover that they 
had surrendered their cause. In this they were not disap- 
pointed ; for on a division, Mr. Henry had a majority of 
upward of thirty against the bill." 

If this be a fair specimen of the cases (as probably it is) in 
which Mr. Henry was accused of appealing improperly to 
local prejudices, the censure seems undeserved. It is obvious 
that the considerations urged by him, on this occasion, 
belonged properly to the subject, and that the appeal to local 
circumstances was fairly made. Candour will justify us in 
looking, with great distrust, to the censures cast on this 
extraordinary man, by rivals whom he had obscured. 

On the 17th of November, 1784, Mr. Henry was again 
elected governor of Virginia, to commence his service from 
the 30th day of the same month. The communication made 
by him to the first legislature which met after his election, is 
inserted in the Appendix ; it is given at large, as a specimen 
of Mr. Henry's style in more extended compositions than 
have yet been submitted to the reader, and for the further 
purpose of showing, that the objects with which a governor 
of Virginia, acting within the pale of the constitution, is con- 
versant in time of peace, are not such as to shed much lustre 

* At that day, (and perhaps still,) the poorer people on the salt 
creeks, lived almost exclusively on fish ; passing whole days, and 
sometimes weeks, without seeing a grain of bread. 
2M 



274 WIRT S LIFE OF 

on his character, or to solicit very powerfully the attention of 
his biographer.* 

In examining the public archives of this dale, there is a 
^circumstance whose frequent and indeed constant recurrence, 
presses itself most painfully on the attention : I mean the 
resignation of state officers, on the plea of a necessity to resort 
to some more effectual means of subsistence. It is not gene- 
rally known, that the councils of Virginia were, during the 
period of which we are now speaking, enlightened and adorned 
by some of the brightest of her sons : much less is it known 
that they were driven from those councils, by that wretched 
policy which has always regulated the salaries of officers in 
Virginia. The letters of resignation, during the years 1784, 
1785, and 1786, which now stand on the public files, afford 
the best comment on this policy. Virginia lost, during those 
years, the services of such men as have rarely existed in this 
or any other country ; and such as she can never hope to see 
again in her councils, until the system of penury shall yield 
to that of liberality. At the close of the war, indeed, there 
was some apology for this penury ; the country was wretch- 
edly poor and in debt. But this cause has long since ceased, 
and with it also should cease the effect. Virginia is now 
rich, and may fill her offices with the flower of her sons ; but 
can it be expected that men who wish to live free from debt, 
and to leave their fam.ilies independent at their deaths, will 
relinquish the pursuits by which they are able to effect these 
objects, and enter upon a service full of care, responsibility, 
and anxiety ; a service whose certain fruits (if it be their only 
dependance) must be a life of pecuniary embarrassment ; and 
(what is still worse) their wives and children, after their 

* See Appendix, Note B. 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y, 275 

deaths, musl be cast on the charity of a cold and unfeehng 
world ? Ought such a sacrifice to be expected ? and yet 
must it not be the inevitable consequence of an exclusive de- 
pendance on the salary of any office in Virginia, which re- 
quires talents of the highest order 1* 

These remarks are not foreign to our story : in the fall of 
1786, while yet a year remained of his constitutional term, 
Mr. Henry was under the necessity of retiring from the office 
of governor. There never was a man whose style of living 
was more perfectly unostentatious, temperate, and simple ; 
yet the salary had been inadequate to the support of his fam- 
ily ; and, at the end of two years, he found himself involved 
in debts which, for the moment, he saw no hope of paying, 
but by the sacrifice of a part of his estate. Let it be remem- 
bered, that this occurred in the year 1786 ; and let it be fur- 
ther remembered, that the salary was then very nearly what 
it still remains ! 

In consequence of Mr. Henry's declining a re-election, the 

* How affecting is that spectacle which we have seen of a public 
officer, who, having worn out the prime and vigour of life in the ser- 
vice of his country, instead of being enabled to retire, in old age, to the 
repose and peace which he so justly deserved, is compelled to toil on 
for subsistence, though trembling, perhaps, under the weight of eighty 
winters, oppressed by debt, harassed by his creditors, with the cer- 
tainty before him of dying poor and involved ; and leaving his pos- 
terity, if he have any, on the parish ! How forcibly does it remind us 
of that pathetic exclamation of Wolsey : — 

" O Cromwell, Cromwell, 
Had I but served my God, with half the zeal 
I served my king, he would not, in mine age, 
Have left me naked to my enemies !" 

Is it in reference to the warm and generous state of Virginia, that 
these reflections can be made, and made too with truth and justice ! 



276 W I R T S L I F E O F 

legislature proceeded to appoint his successor ; and then, on 
the succeeding 25th of November, the house of delegates 
came to the following resolution : — 

" Resolved, unanimously, That a committee be appointed 
to wait on his excellency the governor, and present him the 
thanks of this house, for his wise, prudent, and upright ad- 
ministration, during his last appointment of chief magistrate 
of this commonwealth, assuring him that they retain a per- 
fect sense of his abilities, in the discharge of the duties of 
that high and important office, and wish him all domestic 
happiness, on his return to private life." 

To this resolution, Mr. Corbin, one of the committee, re- 
ported the following answer from Mr. Henry : — 

" Gentlemen, 

" The house of delegates have done me distinguished hon- 
our, by the resolution they have been pleased to communi- 
cate to me through you. I am happy to find my endeavours 
to discharge the duties of my station, have met with theii 
favourable acceptance. 

" The approbation of my country is the highest reward 
to which niy mind is capable of aspiring, and I shall return 
to private life, highly gratified in the recollection of this in- 
stance of regard shown me by the house ; having only to 
regret that my abilities to serve my country have come so 
short of my wishes. 

" At the same time that I make my best acknowledgments 
to the house for their goodness, I beg leave to express my 
particular obligations to you, gentlemen, for the polite man- 
ner in which this communication is made to me." 



PATRICK HENRY. 277 

On the fourth of December, in the same year, Mr. Henry- 
was appointed by the legislature, one of seven deputies from 
this commonwealth to meet a convention proposed to be held 
in Philadelphia, on the following May, for the purpose of re- 
vising the federal constitution. On this list of deputies, his 
name stands next to that of him, who stood of right before 
all others in America ; the order of appointment as exhibited 
by the journals being as follows : George Washington, Pat- 
rick Henry, Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, 
George Mason, and George Wythe. 

The same cause, however, which had constrained Mr. 
Henry's retirement from the executive chair of the slate, dis- 
abled him now from obeying this honourable call of his coun- 
try. On his resigning the government, he retired to Prince 
Edward county, and endeavoured to cast about for the means 
of extricating himself from his debts. At the age of fifty 
years, worn down by more than twenty years of arduous 
service in the cause of his country, eighteen of which had 
been occupied by the toils and tempests of the revolution, it 
was natural for him to wish for rest, and to seek some secure 
and placid port in which he might repose himself from the 
fatigues of the storm. This however was denied him ; and 
after having devoted the bloom of youth and the maturity of 
manhood to the good of his country, he had now in his old 
age to provide for his family. 

" He had never,^^ says a correspondent,* " been in easy 
circumstances ; and soon after his removal to Prince Ed- 
ward county, conversing with his usual frankness with one 
of his neighbours, he expressed his anxiety under the debts 
which he was not able to pay ; the reply was to this effect , 

* Judge Winston. 
24 



278 W I R T S L I F E F 

' Go back to the bar ; your tongue will soon pay your debts. 
If you will promise to go, I will give you a retaining fee on 
the spot.' 

" This blunt advice determined him to return to the prac- 
tice of the law ; which he did in the beginning of 1788 ; and 
during six years he attended regularly the district courts of 
Prince Edward and New London." 

Direful must have been the necessity which drove a man 
of Mr. Henry's disposition and habits, at his time of life, and 
tempest-beaten as he was, to resume the practice of such a 
profession as the law. He would not, however, undertake 
the technical duties of the profession ; his engagements were 
confined to the argument of the cause ; and his clients had 
of course, to employ other counsel, to conduct the pleadings, 
and ripen their cases for hearing. Hence his practice was 
restricted to difficult and important cases ; but his great rep- 
utation kept him constantly engaged ; he was frequently 
called to distant courts ; the light of his eloquence shone iii 
every quarter of the state, and thousands of tongues were 
every where employed in repeating the fine effusions of his 
genius. 

The federal constitution, the fruit of the convention at 
Philadelphia, had now come forth, and produced an agitation 
which had not been felt since the return of peace. The 
friends and the enemies to its adoption were equally zealous 
and active in their exertions to promote their respective 
wishes ; the presses throughout the continent teemed with 
essays on the subject ; and the rostrum, the pulpit, the field, 
and the forest, rung with declamations and discussions of the 
most animated character. Every assemblage of people, for 
whatsoever purpose met, either for court or church, muster or 
barbecue, presented an arena for the political combatants ; 



PATRICK HENRY. 279 

and in some quarters of the union, such was the pubhc 
anxiety of the occasion, that gentlemen in the habit of pubhc 
speaking, converted themselves into a sort of itinerant 
preachers, going from county to county, and from state to 
state, collecting the people by distant appointments, and 
challenging all adversaries to meet and dispute with them the 
propriety of the adoption of the federal constitution. All who 
sought to distinguish themselves by public speaking, all can- 
didates for popular favour, and especially the junior members 
of the bar, flocked to these meetings from the remotest dis- 
tances, and entered the lists with all the ardour, and gallantry 
of the knights of former times at their tilts and tournaments. 
Never was there a theme more fruitful of discussion, and 
never was there one more amply or ably discussed. 

Of the convention which was to decide the fate of this 
instrument in Virginia, Mr. Henry was chosen a member for 
the county of Prince Edward. Although the constitution 
had come forth with the sanction of the revered name of 
Washington, and carried with it all the weight of popularity 
which that name could not fail to attach to any proposition^ 
it had not the good fortune to be approved by Mr. Henry. 
He was (to use his own expression) " most awfully alarmed" 
at the idea of its adoption ; for he considered it as threatening 
the liberties of his country ; and he determined, therefore, to 
buckle on once more the armour which he had hung up in 
the temple of peace, and try the fortune of this, the last of 
his political fields. 



SECTION VIII. 

The convention met in Richmond, on the 2d of June 
1788, and exhibited such an array of variegated talents, as 
had never been collected before within the limits of the state 
and such a one as it may well be feared we shall never see 
again. A few of the most eminent of these statesmen are 
still alive ; of whom, therefore, delicacy forbids us to speak 
as they deserve. Their powers, however, and the peculiai 
characters of their intellectual excellence, are so well known 
that their names will be sufficient to speak their respective 
eulogies. We may mention, therefore, Mr. Madison, the late 
president of the United States ; Mr. Marshall, the chief-jus 
tice ; and Mr. Monroe, now the president. What will the 
reader think of a body, in which men like these were only 
among their equals ! Yet such is the fact ; for there were 
those sages of other days, Pendleton and Wythe ; there was 
seen displayed the Spartan vigour and compactness of George 
Nicholas ; and there shone the radiant genius and sensibility 
of Grayson ; the Roman energy and the Attic wit of George 
Mason was there ; and there, also, the classic taste and har- 
mony of Edmund Randolph ; " the splendid conflagration" 
of the high-minded Innis; and the matchless eloquence of 
the immortal Henry ! * 

* The debates and proceedings of this Convention, by Mr. David 
Robertson, of Petersburg, have passed through two editions ; yet it is 
believed that their circulation has been principally confined to Vir- 
ginia ; and even in this state, from the rapid progress of our population, 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 281 

It was not until the 4th, ihat the prehmniary arrangements 
for the discussion were settled. Mr. Pendleton had been 
unanimously elected the president of the convention; but it 
having been determined that the subject should be debated 
in committee of the whole, the house on that day resolved 
itself into committee, and the venerable Mr. Wythe was 
called to the chair. In conformity with the order which 
had been taken, to discuss the constitution, clause by clause, 
the clerk now read the preamble, and the two first sections ; 
and the debate was opened by Mr. George Nicholas. He 
confined himself strictly to the sections under consideration, 
and maintained their policy with great cogency of argument. 
Mr. Henry rose next, and soon demonstrated that his excur- 
sions were not to be restrained by the rigour of rules 
Instead of proceeding to answer Mr. Nicholas, he commenced 
by sounding an alarm calculated to produce a most powerful 
impression. The effect, however, will be entirely lost upon 
the reader, unless he shall associate with the speech which 

that book is supposed to be in, comparatively, few hands. Hence it 
has been thought proper to give a short sketch of Mr. Henry's course 
in this body. It ought to be premised, however, that the published 
debates have been said, by those who attended the convention, to 
present but an imperfect view of the discussions of that body. In rela 
tion to Mr. Henry, they are confessedly imperfect ; the reporter having 
sometimes dropped him in those passages in which the reader would 
be most anxious to follow him. From the skill and ability of the 
reporter, there can be no doubt that the substance of the debates, as 
well as their general course, are accurately preserved. The work is, 
therefore, a valuable repository of the arguments by which theconsti' 
tution was opposed on one hand, and supported on the other ; but it 
must have been utterly impossible for a man who possesses the sensi- 
bility and high relish for eloquence which distinguish the reporter, 
not to have been so far transported by the excursions of Mr. Henry's 
genius, as sometimes, unconsciouslv, to have laid down his pen. 
2 N 24* 



282 WIRTS LIFE OF 

I am about to lay before him, that awful solemnity and look 
of fearful portent, by which Mr. Henry could imply even 
more than he expressed ; and that slow, distinct, emphatic 
enunciation, by which he never failed to move the souls of 
his hearers. 

" Mr. Chairman — The public mind, as well as my own, 
is extremely uneasy at the proposed change of government. 
Give me leave to form one of the number of those who wish 
to be thoroughly acquainted with the reasons of this perilous 
and uneasy situation — and why we are brought hither to 
decide on this great national question. I consider myself as 
the servant of the people of this commonwealth — as a sentinel 
over their rights, liberty, and happiness. I represent their 
feelings when I say, that they are exceedingly uneasy, being 
brought from that state of full security which they enjoyed, 
lo the present delusive appearance of tilings. A year ago, 
the minds of our citizens were at perfect repose. Before 
the meeting of the late federal convention at Philadelphia, a 
general peace and a universal tranquillity prevailed in this 
country — but since that period, they are exceedingly uneasy 
and disquieted. When I wished for an appointment to this 
convention, my mind was extremely agitated for the situation 
of public affairs. I conceive the republic to be in extreme 
danger. If our situation be thus uneasy, whence has arisen 
this fearful jeopardy ? It arises from this fatal system — it 
arises from a proposal to change our government — a propo- 
sal that goes to the utter annihilation of the most solemn 
engagements of the states — a proposal of establishing nine 
states into confederacy, to the eventual exclusion of four 
states. It goes to the annihilation of those solemn treaties 
we have formed with foreign nations. The present circum- 



PATRICK HENRY. 283 

Stances of France — the good offices rendered us by that 
kingdom, require our most faithful and most punctual adhe- 
rence to our treaty with her. We are in alhance with the 
Spaniards, the Dutch, the Prussians : those treaties bound 
us as thirteen states, confederated together. Yet here is a 
proposal to sever that confederacy. Is it possible that we 
shall abandon all our treaties and national engagements'^ 
And for what? I expected to have heard the reasons of 
an event, so unexpected to my mind and many others. 
Was our civil polity or public justice endangered or sapped ? 
Was the real existence of the country threatened — or was 
this preceded by a mournful progression of events ? This 
proposal of altering our federal government is of a most 
alarming nature. Make the best of this new government — 
say it is composed by any thing but inspiration — you ought 
to be extremely cautious, watchful, jealous of your liberty ; 
for instead of securing our rights, you may lose them for ever. 
If a wrong step be now made, the republic may be lost for 
ever. If this new government will not come up to the expec- 
tation of the people, and they should be disappointed, their 
liberty will be lost, and tyranny must and will arise. I repeat 
it again, and I beg gentlemen to consider, that a wrong step 
made now, will plunge us into misery, and our republic will 
be lost. It will be necessary for this convention to have a 
faithful historical detail of the facts that preceded the session 
of the federal convention, and the reasons that actuated its 
members in proposing an entire alteration of government, 
and to demonstrate the dangers that awaited us : if they 
were of such awful magnitude, as to warrant a proposal so 
extremely perilous as this, I must assert, that this convention 
has an absolute right to a thorough discovery of every cir- 
cumstance relative to this great event. And here I would 



284 W I 11 T S L I F E O F 

make this inquiry of those worthy characters who composed 
a part of the late federal convention. I am sure they were 
fully impressed with the necessity of forming a great conso- 
lidated government, instead of a confederation. That this 
is a consolidated government is demonstrably clear ; and the 
danger of such a government is to my mind very striking. 
I have the highest veneration for those gentlemen : but, sir, 
give me leave to demand, what right had they to say, we, 
the people ? 

" My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude 
for the public welfare, leads me to ask, who authorized them 
to speak tlie language of, lue, the people, instead of, we, the 
states ? States are the characteristics, and the soul of a 
confederation. If the states be not the agents of this com- 
pact, it must be one great, consolidated, national, govern- 
ment of the people of all the states. I have the highest 
respect for those gentlemen who formed the convention ; and 
were some of them not here, I would express some testimo- 
nial of esteem for them. America had, on a former occasion, 
put the utmost confidence in them ; a confidence which was 
well-placed ; and I am sure, sir, I would give up any thing 
to them ; I woidd cheerfully confide in them as my represen- 
tatives. But, sir, on this great occasion, I would demand the 
cause of their conduct. Even from that illustrious man, who 
saved us by his valour, I would have a reason for his conduct 
— that liberty which he has given us by his valour, tells me 
to ask this reason — and sure I am, were he here, he would 
give us that reason : but there are other gentlemen here who 
can give us this information. Tlie people gave them no 
power to use their name. That they exceeded their power is 
perfectly clear. It is not mere curiosity that actuates me — 
I wish to hear the real, actual, existing danger, which should 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 285 

lead us to take those steps so dangerous in my conception. 
Disorders have arisen in other parts of America ; but here, 
sir, no dangers, no insurrection, or tumult, has happened — 
every thing has been calm and tranquil. But, notwithstanding 
this, ice are loandering on the great ocean of human affairs. 
I see no landmark to guide us. We are running we know 
not whither. Difference in opinion has gone to a degree of 
inflammatory resentment, in different parts of the country, 
which has been occasioned by this perilous innovation. The 
federal convention ought to have amended the old system — 
for this purpose they were solely delegated : the object of 
their mission extended to no other consideration. You must 
therefore forgive the solicitation of one unworthy mem.ber, to 
know what danger could have arisen under the present con- 
federation, and what are the causes of this proposal to change 
our government ?" 

This inquiry was answered by an eloquent speech from 
Mr. Randolph ; and the debate passed into other hands ; until 
on the next day. General Lee, in reference to Mr. Henry's 
opening speech, addressed the chair, as follows : — 

" Mr. Chairman — I feel every power of my mind moved 
by the language of the honourable gentleman, yesterday. 
The eclat and brilliancy which have distinguished that gen- 
tleman, the honours with which he has been dignified, and 
the brilliant talents which he has so often displayed, have 
attracted my respect and attention. On so important an 
occasion, and before so respectable a body, I expected a new 
display of his powers of oratory : but, instead of proceeding 
to investigate the merits of the new plan of government, the 
loorthy character informed us of horrors which he felt, of 



286 WIRTSLIFEOF 

apprehensions in his mind, which made him tremblingly 
fearful of the fate of the commonwealth. Mr. Chairman, 
was it proper to appeal to the fear of this house ? The 
question before us belongs to the judgment of this house ; 
I trust he is come to judge and not to alarm. I trust that 
he, and every other gentleman in this house, comes with a 
firm resolution, coolly and calmly to examine, and fairly and 
impartially to determine." 

In the further progress of his speech. General Lee again 
said, rather tauntingly, of Mr. Henry — " The gentleman sat 
down as lie began, leaving us to ruminate on the horrors 
with which he opened." 

Mr. Henry, rising immediately after tliese sarcastic remarks, 
gave a striking specimen of that dignified self-command, and 
that strict and uniform decorum, by which he was so pre- 
eminently distinguished in debate. Far from retorting the 
sarcasms of his adversary, he seemed to have heard nothing 
but the compliments with which they stood connected, and 
rising slowly from his seat, with a countenance expressive 
of unaffected humility, he began with the following modest 
and disqualifying exordium: "Mr. Chairman — I am much 
obhged to the very worthy gentleman for his encomium. I 
wish I loas possessed of talents, or possessed of any thing, 
that might enable me to elucidate this great subject. I own, 
sir, I am not free from suspicion, I am apt to entertain 
doubts. I rose, on yesterday, not to enter upon the discussion, 
but merely to ask a question which had arisen in my own 
mind. When I asked that question, I thought the meaning 
of my interrogation was obvious. The fate of America may 
lepend on this question. Have they said, we, the states ? 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y 287 

Have they made a proposal of a compact between states ? 
If they had, this would be a confederation : it is, otherwise, 
most clearly, a consolidated government. The whole ques 
tion turns, sir, on that poor little thing, the expression, we^ 
the people, instead of, the states of America." 

He then proceeded to set forth, in ten-ible array, his various 
objections to the constitution; not confining himself to the 
clauses under debate, but ranging through the whole instru- 
ment, and passing from objection to objection, as they fol- 
lowed each other in his mind. This departure from the rule 
of the house, although at first view censurable, was insisted 
upon by himself and his colleagues, as being indispensable 
to a just examination of the particular clause under conside- 
ration ; because the policy or impolicy of any provision did 
not always depend upon itself alone, but on other provisions 
with which it stood connected, and, irideed, upon the whole 
system of powers and checks that were associated with it 
in the same instrument, and thus formed only parts of one 
entire whole. The truth of this position, in relation to 
some of the provisions, could not be justly denied; and a 
departure once made from the rigour of the rule, the debate 
became at large, on every part of the constitution ; the dis- 
putants at every stage looking forward and backward 
throughout the whole instrument, without any control other 
than their own discretion. Thus freed from restraints, under 
which his genius was at all times impatient, uncoupled and 
let loose to range the whole field at pleasure, Mr. Henry 
seemed to have recovered, and to luxuriate in all the powers 
of his youth. He had, indeed, occasion for them all; for 
while he was supported by only three effective auxiliaries, 
opposed to him stood a phalanx, most formidable both for 



288 WIRT'S LIFE OF 

talents and weight of character; and several of whom it 
mio-ht be said, with truth, that each was " in himself a 
host ;" for at the head of the opposing ranks stood Mr. Pen- 
dleton— Mr. Wythe— Mr. Madison— Mr- Marshall— Mr. Ni- 
cholas — Mr. Randolph — Mr. Innis — Mr. Henry Lee — and 
Mr. Corbin. Fearful odds ! and such as called upon him 
for the most strenuous exertion of all his faculties. Nor did 
he sink below the occasion. For twenty days, during which 
this trreat discussion continued without intermission, his efforts 
were sustained, not only with undiminished strength, but 
with powers which seemed to gather new force from every 
exertion. All the faculties useful for debate were found united 
in him, with a degree of perfection, in which they are rarely 
seen to exist, even separately, in different individuals : irony, 
ridicule, the purest wit, the most comic humour, exclamations 
that made the soul start, the most affecting pathos, and the 
most sublime apostrophes, lent their aid to enforce his reason- 
ing, and to put to flight the arguments of his adversaries. 

The objection that the constitution substituted a consol- 
idated in lieu of a confederated government, and that this 
new consolidated government threatened the total annihila- 
tion of the state sovereignties, was pressed by him with 
ixvOst masterly power : he said there was no necessity for a 
change of government so entire and fundamental — and no 
inducement to it, unless it was to be found in this splendid 
government, which we were told was to make us a great 
and mighty people. " We have no detail," said he, " of 
those great considerations, which, in my opinion, ought to 
have abounded, before we should recur to a government of 
this kind. Here is a revolution as radical as that which 
separated us from Great Britain. It is as radical, if in this 
transition our rights and privileges are endangered, and the 



PATRICK HENRY. 289 

sovereignty of the states be relinquished : and cannot we 
plainly see, that this is actually the case? The rights of 
conscience, trial by jury, liberty of the press, all your immu- 
nities and franchises, all pretensions to human rights and 
privileges, are rendered insecure, if not lost, by this change 
so loudly talked of by some, and so inconsiderately by 
others. Is this tame relinquishment of rights w^orthy of 
freemen ? Is it worthy of that manly fortitude that ought 
to characterize republicans l It is said eight states have 
adopted this plan : I declare, that if twelve states and a 
half had adopted it, I would with manly firmness, and in 
spile of an erring world, reject it. You are not to inquire 
how your trade may be increased, nor how you are to be- 
come a great and powerful people, but how your liberties 
can be secured ; for liberty ought to be the direct end of 
your government. Is it necessary for your liberty, that 
you should abandon those great rights by the adoption of 
this system? Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury, and 
the liberty of the press, necessary for your liberty ? Will 
the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the 
security of your liberty ? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly 
blessings — give us that precious jeivel, and you may take 
every thing else ! But I am fearful I have lived long 
enough to become an old-fashioned fellow. Perhaps an 
invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man, may, in 
these refined, enlightened days, be deemed oldfashioned : 
if so, I am contented to be so : I say, the time has been, 
when every pulse of my heart beat for American liberty, 
and which, I believe, had a counterpart in the breast of 
every true American ; but suspicions have gone forth — sus- 
picions of my integrity — publicly reported that my profes- 
sions are not real — twenty-three y^ars ago was I supposed 
2 25 



290 WIRTSLIFEOF 

a traitor to my country : I was then said to be a bane of 
sedition because I supported the rights of my country : I 
may be thought suspicious, when I say our privileges and 
rights are in danger : but, sir, a number of the people of 
this country are weak enough to think these things are too 
true. I am happy to find, that the gentleman on the other 
side declares they are groundless : but, sir, suspicion is a 
■virtue, as long as its object is the preservation of the public 
good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds : sliould 
it fall on me, I am contented ; conscious rectitude is a pow- 
erful consolation : I trust there are many who think my 
professions for the public good to be real. Let your suspi- 
cion look to both sides : there are many on the other side, 
who possibly may have been persuaded of the necessity of 
these measures, which I conceive to be dangerous to your 
liberty. Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. 
Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortu- 
nately, nothing will preserve it but downright force : when- 
ever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined. I 
am answered by gentlemen, that though I might speak of 
terrors, yet the fact was, that we were surrounded by none 
of the dangers I apprehended. I conceive this new govern- 
ment to be one of those dangers: it has produced those 
horrors which distress many of our best citizens. We are 
come hither to preserve the poor commonwealth of Virginia, 
if it can be possibly done : something must be done to pre- 
serve your liberty and mine. The confederation, this same 
despised government, merits, in my opinion, the highest 
encomium : it carried us through a long and dangerous war : 
it rendered us victorious in that bloody conflict with a power- 
ful nation : it has secured us a territory greater than any 
European monarch possesses : and shall a government which 



PATRICK HENRY. 291 

has been thus strong and vigorous, be accused of imbecility, 
and abandoned for want of energy ? Consider what you 
are about to do, before you part with this government. Take 
longer time in reckoning things ; revolutions like this have 
happened in almost every country of Europe : similar exam- 
ples are to be found in ancient Greece and ancient Rome : in 
stances of the people losing their liberty by their own careless 
ness and the ambition of a few. We are cautioned, by the hon- 
ourable gentleman who presides, against faction and turbu- 
lence : I acknowledge that licentiousness is dangerous, and 
that it ought to be provided against : I acknowledge, also, the 
new form of government may effectually prevent it : yet there 
is another thing it will as effectually do — it will oppress and 
ruin the people. There are sufficieat guards placed against 
faction and licentiousness : for when power is given to this 
government to suppress these, or for any other purpose, the 
language it assumes is clear, express, and unequivocal : but 
when this constitution speaks of privileges, there is an am- 
biguity, Sir, a fatal ambiguity, an ambiguity which is 
very astonishing !" 

The adoption of the instrument had been maintained 
upon the ground that it would increase our military strength, 
and enable us to resist the lawless ambition of foreign princes : 
it had been urged, too, that if the convention should rise 
without adopting the instrument, disunion and anarchy 
would be the certain consequences. In answer to these topics 
he said — " Happy will you be, if you miss the fate of those 
nations, who, omitting to resist their oppressors, or negligently 
suffering their liberty to be wrested from them, have groaned 
under intolerable despotism ! Most of the human race are 
now in this deplorable condition. And those nations who 



292 WIRT S LIFE OP 

have gone in search of grandeur, poiuer, and splendour, 
have also fallen a sacrifice, and been the victims of their ovim 
folly. While they acquired those visionary blessings, they 
lost their freedom. 

" My great objection to this government is, that it does not 
leave us the means of defending our rights, or of waging 
war against tyrants. It is urged by some gentlemen, that 
this new plan will bring us an acquisition of strength, an 
army, and the militia of the states. This is an idea ex- 
tremely ridiculous : gentlemen cannot be in earnest This 
acquisitio7i will trample on your fallen liberty ! Let m_y 
beloved Americans guard against that fatal lethargy that has 
pervaded the universe. Have we the means of resisting 
disciphned armies, when our only defence, the militia, is 
put into the hands of congress ? The honourable gentle- 
man said, that great danger would ensue, if the convention 
rose without adopting this system. I ask, where is that dan- 
ger ? I see none. Other gentlemen have told us within 
these walls, that the union is gone — or, that the union will 
be gone. Is not this trifling with the judgment of their 
fellow-citizens ? Till they tell us the ground of their fears, I 
will consider them as imaginary. I rose to make inquiry 
where those dangers were ; they could make no answer : I 
believe I never shall have that answer. Is there a disposi- 
tion in the people of this country to revolt against the domin- 
ion of laws ? Has there been a single tumult in Virginia ? 
Have not the people of Virginia, when labouring under the 
severest pressure of accumulated distresses, manifested the 
most cordial acquiescence in the execution of the laws ? 
What could be more lawful than their unanimous acquies- 
cence under general distresses ? Is there any revolution 
in Virginia ? Whither is the spirit of America gone ? 



PATRICK HENRY. 293 

Whither is the genius of America fled ? It was hut 
yesterday when our eneviies marched in triumph through 
our country. Yet the people of this country could not 
be appalled by their pompous armaments : they stopped 
their career, and victoriously captured them ! Where is 
the peril now compared to that ? Some minds are agitated 
by foreign alarms. Happily for us, there is no real dangei 
from Europe : that country is engaged in more arduous busi 
ness : from that quarter there is no cause of fear : you may 
sleep in safety for ever for them. Where is the danger ? If 
Sir, there was any, I would recur to the American spirit to 
defend us — that spirit which has enabled us to surmount the 
greatest difficulties : to that illustrious spirit I address my 
most fervent prayer, to prevent our adopting a system de- 
structive to liberty. Let not gentlemen be told that it is not 
safe to reject this government. Wherefore is it not safe ? 
We are told there are dangers ; but those dangers are ideal ; 
they cannot be demonstrated. To encourage us to adopt it, 
they tell us that there is a plain, easy way of getting amend- 
ments. When I come to contemplate this part, I suppose 
that I am mad, or, that my countrymen are so. The way 
to amendment is, in my conception, shut. Let us consider 
this plain, easy wayT 

He then proceeds to demonstrate, that as the constitution 
required the concurrence of three-fourths of the states to any 
amendment, it followed that six-tenths of the people, in four 
of the smallest stales, (not containing collectively one-tenth 
part of the population of the United States,) would have it in 
their power to defeat the most salutary amendments ; and 
then asks, " Is this, Sir, an easy mode of securing the public 
liberty ? It is. Sir, a most fearful situation, when the most 

25* 



294 WIRTS LIFE OF 

conlcmptible minority can prevent the alteration of the most 
oppressive government : for it may, in many respects, prove 
to be such. Is this the spirit of repubhcanism ? What, Sir, 
is the genius of democracy ? Let me read that clause of the 
bill of rights of Virginia, which relates to this : 3d Art. 
' That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the com- 
mon benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or 
community ; of all the various modes and forms of govern- 
ment, that is best w^hich is capable of producing the greatest 
degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured 
against the danger of mal-administration ; and that when- 
ever any government shall be found inadequate, or contrary 
to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an 
indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, 
alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most 
conducive to the public weal.' This, Sir, is the language of 
democracy, tliat a majority of the community have a right 
to alter their government when found to be oppressive ; but 
how different is the genius of your new constitution from 
this ? How different from the sentiments of freemen, that a 
contemptible minority can prevent the good of the majority ? 
If, then, gentlemen, standing on this ground, are come to 
that point, that they are willing to bind themselves and their 
posterity to be oppressed, I am amazed, and inexpressibly 
astonished ! If this be the opinion of the majority, I must 
submit ; but to me. Sir, it appears perilous and destructive ; 
I cannot help thinking so ; perhaps it may be the result of 
my age ; these may be feelings natural to a man of my 
years, when the American spirit has left him, and his mental 
powers, like the members of the body, are decayed. If, Sir, 
amendments are left to the twentieth, or to the tenth part of 
the people of America, your liberty is gone for ever. We 



PATRICK HENRY. 295 

have heard that there is a great deal of bribery practised in 
the house of commons in England ; and that many of the 
members raised themselves to preferments by selling the 
rights of the people. But, sir, the tenth part of that body 
cannot continue oppressions on the rest of the people. Eng- 
lish liberty is, in this case, on a firmer foundation than 
American liberty. It will be easily contrived to procure the 
opposition of one tenth of the people to any alteration, how- 
ever judicious." 

Mr. Pendleton had repelled the idea of danger from the 
adoption of the constitution, on the ground of the facility 
with which the people could recall their delegated powders, 
and change their servants. — "We will assemble in conven- 
tion," said Mr. Pendleton, " wholly recall our delegated pow- 
ers, or reform them so as to prevent such abuse, and punish 
our servants." In reply to this, Mr. Henry said : — " The 
honourable gentleman who presides told us, that, to prevent 
abuses in our government, we will assemble in convention, 
recall our delegated powers, and punish our servants for abu- 
sing the trust reposed in them. Oh, sir, toe should have 
fine times, indeed, if to punish tyrants, it luere only necessary 
to asseinble the people ! Your arms, wherewith you could 
defend yourselves, are gone ! and you have no longer an 
aristocratical, no longer a democratical spirit. Did you ever 
read of any revolution in any nation, brought about by the 
punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no 
power at all ? You read of a riot act in a country which 
is called one of the freest in the world, where a few neigh- 
bours cannot assemble, without the risk of being shot by a 
hired soldiery, the engines of despotism. We may see 
such an act in America. A standing army we shall have, 
also, to execute the execrable commands of tyranny ; and 



296 WIRT S LIFE OF 

how are you to punish them ? Will you order them to be 
punished ? Who shall obey these orders ? Will your 
mace-bearer be a match for a disciplined regiment ? In 
what situation are we to be ? The clause before you gives 
a power of direct taxation, unbounded and unhmited ; exclu- 
sive power of legislation, in all cases whatsoever, for ten 
miles square ; and over all places purchased for the 
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, tS^-c. 
What resistance could be made ? The attempt tuould 
be madness. You will find all the strength of this country 
in the hands of your enemies ; those garrisons will naturally 
be the strongest places in the country. Your militia is given 
up to congress, also, in another part of this plan ; they will, 
therefore, act as they think proper; all power Avill be in 
their own possession ; you cannot force them to receive 
their punishment." 

He continued to ridicule very successfully the alluring idea 
of the expected splendour of the new government, and the 
imaginary checks and balances which were said to exist in 
this constitution : " If we admit," said he, " this consohdated 
government, it will be because we like a great splendid one. 
Some way or other toe must be a. great and mighty empire ; 
toe must have an army, and a navy, and a number of things ! 
When the American spirit was in its youth, the language 
of America was different : liberty, sir, was then the primary 
object." And again : " This constitution is said to have 
beautiful features ; when I come to examine these features, 
sir, they appear to me horribly frightful ! Among other 
deformities, it has an awfid squinting ; it squints toward 
monarchy ! And does not this raise indignation in the 
heart of every true American ? Your president may 



PATRICK HENRY. 297 

easily become king ; your senate is so imperfectly con- 
structed, that your dearest rights may be sacrificed by what 
may be a small minority ; and a very small minority may 
continue, /or ever, unchangeable, this government, although 
horridly defective ; where are your checks in this govern- 
ment ? Your strong holds will be in the hands of vour 
enemies ; it is on a supposition that your American 
governors shall be honest, that all the good qualities of this 
government are founded ; but its defective and imperfect 
construction puts it in their power to perpetrate the worst of 
mischiefs, should they be bad men ; and, sir, would not all 
the world, from the eastern to the western hemisphere, blame 
our distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contin- 
gency of our rulers being good or bad ? Show me that 
age and country, where the rights and liberties of the peo- 
ple were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good 
men, without a consequent loss of liberty ? I say, that the 
loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute 
certainty, every such mad attempt. If your American chief 
be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy is it for him 
to render himself absolute ! The army is in his hands ; and, 
if he be a man of address, it will be attached to him ; and 
it will be the subject of long meditation with him to seize the 
first auspicious moment to accomplish his design ; and, sir, 
will the American spirit, solely, relieve you when this hap- 
pens ? I would rather infinitely, and I am sure most of 
this convention are of the same opinion, have a king, lords, 
and commons, than a government so replete with such 
insupportable evils. If we make a king, we may prescribe 
the rules by which he shall rule his people, and interpose 
such checks as shall prevent him from infringing them : but 
the president in the field, at the head of his army, can prescribe 
2P 



298 WIRTS LIFE OF 

the terms on which he shall reign master, so far that it will 
puzzle any American ever to get his neck from under the 
galling yoke. I cannot, with patience, think of this idea 
If ever he violates the laws, one of two things will happen : 
he will come at the head of his army to carry every thing 
before him ; or he will give bail, or do what Mr. Chief-Jus- 
tice will order him. If he be guilty, will not the recollection 
of his crimes teach him to make one bold push for the Amer- 
ican throne ? Will not the immense difference between 
being master of every thing, and being ignominiously tried 
and punished, powerfully excite him to make this bold push ? 
But, sir, where is the existing force to punish him ? Can 
he not, at the head of his army, beat down every opposition ? 
Away with your president ; we shall have a king : the 
army will salute him monarch ; your militia will leave you, 
and assist in making him king, and fight against you : and 
what have you to oppose this force ? What will then become 
of you and your rights ? Will not absolute despotism ensue ?" 
[Here Mr. Henry strongly and pathetically expatiated on 
the probability of the president's enslaving America, and 
the horrid consequences that must result.] 

After the frank admission of the reporter, exhibited by the 
words contained within those brackets, that he had not 
attempted to follow Mr. Henry in this pathetic excursion, the 
reader will perceive, that it would be doing injustice to the 
memory of that eminent man, to multiply extracts from this 
book, as specimens of his eloquence. The stenographer 
who should be able to take down Mr. Henry's speeches, 
word for word, must have other qualities besides the perfect 
mastery of his art : he must have the perfect mastery of 
himself, and be able, for the moment, to play the mere 
automaton ; for without such self-command, no man, Avho 



PATRICK HENRY. 299 

had a human heart in his bosom, could hsten to his starthng 
exclamations, or horror-breathmg tones, without keeping his 
eyes immoveably riveted upon the speaker. His dominion 
over his hearers was so absolute, that it was idle to think 
of resisting him ; you would as soon think of resisting the 
lightning of heaven. The very tone of voice, in which he 
would address the chairman, when he felt the inspiration 
of his genius rising — " Mr. Chairman !" — and the awful 
pause which followed this call — fixed upon him at once 
every eye in the assembly : and then his oion rapt 
countenance ! — those eyes which seemed to beam with light 
from another world, and under whose fiery glance the crest 
of the proudest adversary fell ! his majestic attitudes, and that 
bold, strong, and varied action, which spoke forth, with so 
much power, the energies of his own great spirit, rendered his 
person a spectacle so sublime, and so awfully interesting, that 
to look in any other direction when the spell was upon him 
was not to be expected from any man who had eyes to see 
and ears to hear. Little cause have we, therefore, to wonder 
or to complain, that a gentleman of Mr. Robertson's lively 
admiration of genius, and of his quick and kindling sensi- 
bility, was sometimes bedimmed by his own tears, and at 
others torn from his task by those master-flights, which 
rushed like a mighty whirlwind from the earth, and carried 
up every thing in their vortex. 

The chief objections taken to the constitution are reduci- 
ble to the following heads : — 

I. That it was a consolidated, instead of a confederated 
government : that in making it so, the delegates at Philadel- 
phia had transcended the limits of their commission : changed 
fundamentally the relations which the states had chosen to 
bear to each other : annihilated their respective sovereignties : 



300 W I R T S L I F E O F 

destroyed the barriers which divided them : and converted 
the whole into one sohd empire. To this leading objection, 
almost all the rest had reference, and were urged principally 
with the view to illustrate and enforce it. 

II. The vast and alarming array of specific powers given 
to the general government, and the wide door opened for an 
unlimited extension of those powers, by the clause which 
authorized congress to pass all laivs necessary to carry 
the given poivers into effect. It was urged, that this clause 
rendered the previous specification of powers an idle illusion ; 
since, by the force of construction arising from that clause, 
congress might easily do any thing and every thing it chose, 
under the pretence of giving effect to some specified power. 

III. The unlimited power of taxation of all kinds : the 
states were no longer to be required, in their federative 
characters, to contribute their respective proportions toward 
the expenses and engagements of the general government : 
but congress were authorized to go directly to the pockets 
of the people, and to sweep from them en masse, from north 
to south, whatever portion of the earnings of the industrious 
poor the rapacity of the general government, or their schemes 
of ambitious grandeur, might suggest. It was contended, 
that such a power could not be exercised, without just com- 
plaint, over a country so extensive, and so diversified in its 
productions and the pursuits of its people : that it was im- 
possible to select any subject of general taxation which 
would not operate unequally on the different sections of the 
union, produce discontent and heart-burnings among the 
people, and most probably terminate in open resistance to 
the laws : that the representatives in congress were too few 



PATRICK HENRY. 301 

to carry with them a knowledge of the wants and capacities 
of the people in the different parts of a large state, and that 
the representation could not be made full enough to attain 
that object, without becoming oppressively expensive to 
the country : that hence taxation ought to be left to the 
states themselves, whose representation was full, who best 
knew the habits and circumstances of their constituents, and 
on what subjects a tax could be most conveniently laid. Mr. 
Henry said that he was willing to grant this power condi- 
tionally; that is, upon the failure of the states to comply 
with requisitions from congress : but that the absolute and 
unconditional grant of it, in the first instance, filled his mind 
with the most awful anticipations. It was resolved, he saw 
clearly, that we must be a great and splendid people ; and 
that in order to be so, immense revenues must be raised from 
the people : the people were to be bowed down under the 
load of their taxes, direct and indirect ; and a swarm of 
federal tax-gatherers were to cover this land, to blight every 
blade of grass, and every leaf of vegetation, and consume its 
productions for the enrichment of themselves and their mas- 
ters : it v>^as not contended, he supposed, but that the state 
legislature, also, might impose taxes for their own internal 
purposes : thus the people were to be, doubly oppressed, and 
between the state sheriffs and the federal sheriffs to be ground 
to dust : on this subject he drew such a vivid and affecting 
picture of these officers, entering in succession the cabin of 
the broken-hearted peasant, and the last one rifling the poor 
remains which the first had left as is said to have drawn 
tears from every eye. 

IV. The power of raising armies and building navies, and 
still more emphatically, the control given to the general 

26 



302 WIRTSLIFEOF 

government over the militia of the states, was most strenu- 
ously opposed. The pov/er thus given was a part of the 
means of that aggrandizement which was obviously medi- 
tated, and there could be no doubt that it would be exercised : 
so that this republic, whose best policy was peace, was to be 
saddled with the expense of maintaining standing armies 
and navies, useless for any other purpose than to insult her 
citizens, to afford a pretext for increased taxes, and an aug- 
mented public debt, and finally to subvert the liberties of her 
people : her militia, too, her last remaining defence, was gone. 
" Congress," said Mr. Henry, " by the power of taxation — 
by that of raising an army and navy — and by their control 
over the militia — have the sword in the one hand, and the 
purse in the other. Shall we be safe without either ? Con- 
gress have an unlimited power over both ; they are entirely 
given up by us. Let him (Mr. Madison) candidly tell me 
where and when did freedom exist, when the sword and 
purse were given up from the people ? Unless a miracle 
in human affairs shall interpose, no nation ever did or ever 
can retain its liberty, after the loss of the sword and the purse." 
The unlimited control over the militia was vehemently 
opposed, on the ground, that the marching militia from dis- 
tant states to quell insurrection, and repel invasions, and 
keeping the free yeomanry of the country under the lash of 
martial law, would, in the first instance, produce an effect 
extremely inimical to the peace and harmony of the union ; 
and in the next, harass the agricultural body of the people 
so much, as to reconcile them, as a less evil, to that curse of 
nations, and bane of freedom, a standing army : — and sec- 
ondly, thts power was opposed, on the ground that congress, 
under the boundless charter of constructive power which it 
possessed, might transfer to the president the power of call- 



PATRICK HENRY. 303 

ing forth the mihtia, and thus enable him to disarm all oppo- 
sition to his schemes 

V. The several clauses providing for the federal judiciary- 
were objected to, on the ground of the clashing jurisdictions 
of the state and federal courts ; and secondly, because infinite 
povi^er viras given to congress to multiply inferior federal courts 
at pleasure ; a power which they would not fail to exercise, 
in order to swell the patronage of the president, to their own 
emolument ; and thus enable him to reward their devotion to 
his views, by bestowing on them and their dependants those 
offices which they had themselves created. 

VI. It was contended that the trial by jury was gone in 
civil cases, by that clause which gives to the supreme court 
appellate power over the law and the fact in every case ; 
and which thereby enabled that tribunal to annihilate both 
the verdict and judgment of the inferior courts : and that in 
criminal cases also, the trial by jury was worse than gone, 
because it was admitted, that the common law, which alone 
gave the challenge for favour, would not be in force as to the 
federal courts ; and hence a jury might, in every instance, be 
packed to suit the purpose of the prosecution. 

VII. The authority of the president to take the command 
of the armies of the United States, in person, was warmly 
resisted, on the ground, that if he were a military character, 
and a man of address, he might easily convert them into an 
engine for the worst of purposes. 

VIII. The cession of the whole treaty-making power to 
the president and senate, was considered as one of the most 



304 WIRT S LIFE OF 

formidable features in the instrument, inasmuch as it put it 
in the power of the president and any ten senators, who might 
represent the five smallest states, to enter into the most ruin- 
ous foreign engagements, and even to cede away by treaty 
any portion of the territory of the larger states : it was in- 
sisted, that the lower house, who were the immediate repre- 
sentatives of the people, instead of being excluded as they 
were by the constitution from all participation in the treaty- 
making power, ought at least to be consulted, if not to have 
the principal agency in so interesting a national act. 

IX. The immense patronage of the president was objected 
to : because it placed in his hands the means of corrupting 
the congress, the navy, and army, and of distributing, more- 
over, throughout the society, a band of retainers in the shape 
of judges, revenue officers, and tax-gatherers, which would 
render him irresistible in any scheme of ambition that he 
might meditate against the liberties of his country. 

X. The irresponsibility of the whole gang of federal offi- 
cers (as they were called) was objected to : there was indeed, 
in some instances, a power of impeachment pretended to be 
given, but it was mere sliam and mockery; since, instead of 
being tried by a tribunal, zealous and interested to bring them 
to justice, they were to try each other for offences, in which, 
probably, they were all mutually implicated, 

XI. It was insisted, that if we must adopt a constitution 
ceding away such vast powers, express and implied, and so 
fraught with danger to the liberties of the people, it ought at 
least to be guarded by a bill of rights : that in all free gov- 
ernments, and in the estimation of all men attached to liberty, 



PATRICK HENRY. 305 

there were certain rights unalienable — imprescriptible — and 
of so sacred a character, that they could not be guarded with 
too much caution : among these were the liberty of speech 
and of the press — what security had we, that even these sa- 
cred privileges would not be invaded ? Congress might think 
it necessary, in order to carry into effect the given powers, 
to silence the clamours and censures of the people ; and, if 
they meditated views of lawless ambition, they certainly will 
so think : what then would become of the liberty of speech 
and of the press 1 

Several objections of a minor character were urged, such as : 

1. That the ambiguity with which the direction for pub- 
lishing the proceedings of congress was expressed, (" from 
time to time,") put it in their power to keep the people in 
utter ignorance of their proceedings ; and thus to seize the 
public liberties " by ambuscade." 

2. That the 9th section of the 1st article, professing to set 
out restrictions upon the power of congress, gave them, by 
irresistible implication, the sovereign power over all subjects 
not excepted, and thus enlarged their constructive powers, 
ad infinitum. 

3. That congress had the power of involving the southern 
states in all the horrors which would result from a total eman- 
cipation of their slaves ; and that the northern states, unin- 
terested in the consequences of such an act, had a controlling 
majority, which possessed the power, and would not probably 
want the inclination to effect it. 

4. That the pay of the members was by the constitution 
to be fixed by themselves, without limitation or restraint. 

2Q 26* 



30G WIRTSLIFEOF 

'* They may, therefore," said Mr, Henry, " indulge them- 
selves in the fullest extent. They will make their compen- 
sation as high as they please. I suppose, if they be good 
men, their own delicacy will lead them to be satisfied with 
moderate salaries. But there is no security for this, should 
they be otherwise inclined," 

These objections, and many others which it were tedious 
to enumerate, were pressed upon the house day after day, 
with all the powers of reasoning and of eloquence; and 
where argument and declamation were found unavailing, the 
force of ridicule was freely resorted to. Thus, in relation 
to the objection of consolidation, Mr. Madison had said : — 
" There are a number of opinions as to the nature of the 
government ; but the principal question is, whether it be a 
federal or consolidated government. In order to judge prop- 
erly of the question before us, we must consider it minutely 
in its principal parts. I conceive, myself, that it is of a mixed 
nature : — it is, in a manner, unprecedented : we cannot 
find one express example in the experience of the world — it 
stands by itself. In some respects, it is a government of a 
federal nature ; in others, it is of a consolidated nature." He 
then proceeds to point out and discriminate its federal from 
its national features. Mr. Corbin, on the same side, expressed 
himself satisfied with Mr. Madison's definition of the instru- 
ment ; but begged leave to call it by another name, viz., " a 
representative federal government, as contradistinguished 
from a confederacy." 

Mr. Henry, in replying to these gentlemen, says : — " This 
government is so new, it wants a name ' I wish its other 
novelties were as harmless as this. We are told, however, 
Jiat, collectively taken, it is without an example ! — that it 



PATRICK HENRY. 307 

is national in this part, and federal in that part, &c. We 
may be amused, if we please, by a treatise oi political anat- 
omy. In the brain it is national : the stamina are federal — 
some limbs are federal, other's national. The senators 
are voted for by the state legislatures — so far it is federal. 
Individuals choose the members of the first branch — here 
it is national. It is federal in conferring general pow- 
ers ; but national in retaining them. It is not to be sup- 
ported by the states — the pockets of individuals are to be 
searched for its maintenance. What signifies it to me, 
that you have the most cur'ious anatomical description of 
it in its creation ? To all the common purposes of legisla- 
tion, it is a great consolidation of government. You are not 
to have the right to legislate in any but trivial cases ; you 
are not to touch private contracts : you are not to have the 
right of having armies in your own defence : you cannot be 
trusted with dealing out justice between man and man. 
What shall the states have to do ? Take care of the 
poor — repair and make highways — erect bridges — and so 
on, and so on ! Abolish the state legislatures at once. 
What purposes should they be continued for ? Our legisla- 
ture will indeed be a ludicrous spectacle — 180 men, march- 
ing in solemn farcical procession, exhibiting a mournful 
proof of the lost liberty of their country, without the power 
of restoring it. But, sir, we have the consolation, that it is 
a mixed government ! that is, it may work sorely in your 
neck ; but you will have some comfort by saying, that it was 
a federal government in its origin !" 

Notwithstanding this ridicule, however, thrown on some 
of their arguments, Mr. Henry did not fail, on every proper 
occasion, to do justice to the great abilities and merits of his 
adversaries. To the eloquence of Col. Innis he paid a 



308 WIRTSLIFEOF 

memorable tribute ; and in one short sentence sketched a 
picture of it so vivid, and so faithful, that it would be in- 
justice to both gentlemen not to give it a place : — " That 
honourable gentleman is endowed with great eloquence — 
eloquence splendid, magnificent, and sufficient to shake the 
human mind !" No circumlocution could have described 
with half the spirit and truth, that rare union of pomp and 
power which distinguished Col. Innis ; whose car of triumph 
was always a chariot of war ; pugncB vel pompm, pariter 
aptus. 

One of the most singular instances on record of the fallacy 
of the human memory, occurred in the course of these de- 
bates : this was in relation to the case of Josiah Philips, 
which has been already mentioned. Mr. Randolph, in an- 
swer to Mr. Henry's panegp-ics on the constitution of the 
state of Virginia, brought forward that case in the following 
terms : — " There is one example of this violation (of the 
state constitution) in Virginia, of a most striking and shock- 
ing nature ; an example so horrid, that if I conceived my 
country would passively permit a repetition of it, dear as it 
is to me, I would seek means of expatriating myself from 
it. A man, who was then a citizen, was deprived of his life 
thus : — from a mere reliance on general reports, a gentleman 
in the house of delegates informed the house, that a 
certain man (Josiah Philips) had committed several crimes, 
and was running at large perpetrating other crimes ; he, 
therefore, moved for leave to attaint him ; he obtained that 
leave instantly ; no sooner did he obtain it, than he drew 
from his pocket a bill ready written for that effect ; it was 
read three times in one day, and carried to the senate ; I will 
not say that it passed the same day through the senate ; but 
he was attainted very speedily and precipitately, without any 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 309 

proof better than vague reports ! Without being confronted 
with his accusers and witnesses ; without the privilege of 
calHng for evidence in his behalf, he was sentenced to death, 
and was afterwards actually executed. Was this arbitrary- 
deprivation of life, the dearest gift of God to man, consistent 
with the genius of a republican government ? Is this com- 
patible with the spirit of freedom ? This, sir, has made the 
deepest impression in my heart, and I cannot contemplate it 
without horror." Now the reader, by adverting to the state- 
ment which has been already given of Philips's case, and 
which is founded on record, will find that there is not one 
word of this eloquent invective that is consistent with the 
facts. What makes the case still more strange is, that Mr. 
Randolph, at the happening of the occurrence to which he 
alludes, held the double office of clerk of the house of dele- 
gates, and attorney-general of the commonwealth ; in the 
first character, he had, only ten years before, been officially 
informed, that the bill of attainder had not been founded on 
report, but on a communication of the governor, enclosing 
the letter of the commanding officer of the militia in the 
quarter which was the theatre of Philips's ravages ; that that 
letter had been in due form committed to the whole house on 
the state of the commonwealth, whose resolutions led to the 
bill in question; and that the bill, instead of being read three 
times in one day, had been regularly, and according to the 
forms of the house, read on three several days ; while in his 
character of attorney-general, he had himself endicted and 
prosecuted Philips for highway robbery — confronted him 
with the witnesses, whose names are given at the foot of 
the endictment, still extant among our records, and endorsed 
in Mr. Randolph's own hand-writing ; convicted him on 
that charge, on ivhich charge, and on which alone, Philips 



310 WIRT S LIFE OF 

was 7-egularly sentenced and executed. Yet, not only Mr. 
Randolph, but all the other members who had occasion to 
advert to the circumstance, and even Mr. Henry, on whom 
it is supposed to have been designed to bear, proceed in 
their several criminations and defences, upon the admission 
that Philips had fallen a victim to the bill of attainder. Had 
the incident been of a common character, there would have 
been nothing strange in its having been forgotten ; but it is 
one of so singular and interesting a nature, that this total 
oblivion of it by the principal actors themselves becomes a 
matter of curious history.* 

The convention had been attended, from its commence- 
ment, by a vast concourse of citizens of all ages and condi- 
tions. The interest so universally felt in the question itself, 
and not less the transcendent talents which were engaged in 
its discussion, presented such attractions as could not be resist- 
ed. Industry deserted its pursuits, and even dissipation gave 
up its objects, for the superior enjoyments which were pre- 
sented by the hall of the convention. Not only the people 
of the town and neighbourhood, but gentlemen from every 
quarter of the state, were seen thronging to the metropolis, 
and speeding their eager way to the building in which the 
convention held its meetings. Day after day, from morning 
till night, the galleries of the house were continually filled 
with an anxious crowd, who forgot the inconvenience of 
their situation in the excess of their enjoyment ; and far 
from giving any interruption to the course of the debate, in- 
creased its interest and solemnity by their silence and atten- 
tion. No bustle, no motion, no sound was heard among 
them, save only a slight movement when some new speaker 

* See Appendix. Note C. 



PATRICK HENRY. 311 

arose, whom they were all eager to see as well as to hear; 
or when some masterstroke of eloquence shot thrilling along 
their nerves, and extorted an involuntary and inarticulate 
murmur. Day after day was this banquet of the mind and 
of the heart spread before them, with a delicacy and variety 
which could never cloy. There every taste might find its 
peculiar gratifications — the man of wit — the man of feeling 
— the critic — the philosopher — the historian — the metaphy- 
sician — the lover of logic — the admirer of rhetoric — every 
man who had an eye for the beauty of action, or an ear for 
the harmony of sound, or a soul for the charms of poetic 
fancy — in short, every one who could see, or hear, or feel, or 
understand, might find in the wanton profusion and prodi 
gality of that attic feast, some delicacy adapted to his peculiar 
taste. Every mode of attack and of defence, of which the 
human mind is capable, in decorous debate — every species 
of weapon and armour, offensive and defensive, that could be 
used with advantage, from the Roman javelin to the Par 
thian arrow, from the cloud of ^neas to the shield of 
Achilles — all that could be accomplished by human strength, 
and almost more than human activity, was seen exhibited on 
that celebrated floor. Nor did the debate become oppres- 
sive by its unvarying formality. The stateliness and stern- 
ness of extended argument were frequently relieved by quick 
and animated dialogue. Sometimes the conversation would 
become familiar and friendly. The combatants themselves 
would seem pleased with this relief; forget that they were 
enemies, and by a sort of informal truce put off their armour, 
and sit down amicably together to repose, as it were, in the 
shade of the same tree. By this agreeable intermixture of 
colloquial sprighthness and brilliancy with profound, and 
learned, and vigorous argument — of social courtesy with 



312 WIRT's life of 

heroic gallantry, the audience, far from being fatigued with 
the discussion, looked with regret to the hour of adjournment. 

In this great competition of talents, Mr. Henry's powers 
of debate still shone pre-eminent. They were now exhib- 
iting themselves in a new aspect. Hitherto his efforts, 
however splendid, had been comparatively short and occa- 
sional. In the house of burgesses in 1765, in the congress 
of 1774, and the state convention of 1775, he had exhibited 
the impetuous charge of the gallant Francis the First : but 
now, in combination with this fiery force, he was displaying 
all the firm and dauntless constancy of Charles the Fifth. 
No shock of his adversaries could move him from his ground. 
His resources never failed. His eloquence was poured from 
inexhaustible fountains, and assumed every variety of hue 
and form and motion, which could delight or persuade, in- 
struct or astonish. Sometimes it was the limpid rivulet 
sparkling down the mountain's side, and winding its silver 
course between margins of moss — then gradually swelling 
to a bolder stream, it roared in the headlong cataract, and 
spread its rainbows to the sun — now, it flowed on in tran- 
quil majesty, like a river of the west, reflecting from its pol- 
ished surface, forest, and cliff", and sky — anon, it was the 
angry ocean, chafed by the tempest, hanging its billows, 
with deafening clamours, among the cracking shrouds, or 
hurling them in sublime defiance at the storm that frowned 
above. 

Toward the close of the session, an incident occurred of 
a character so extraordinary as to deserve particular notice. 
The question of adoption or rejection was now approaching. 
The decision was still uncertain, and every mind and every 
heart was filled with anxiety. Mr. Henry partook most 
deeply of this feeling ; and while engaged, as it were, in his 



PATRICK HENRY. 313 

last effort, availed himself of the strong sensations which he 
knew to pervade the house, and made an appeal to it which, 
in point of sublimity, has never been surpassed in any age 
or country of the world. After describing, in accents which 
spoke to the soul, and to which every other bosom deeply 
responded, the awful immensity of the question to the present 
and future generations, and the throbbing apprehensions with 
which he looked to the issue, he passed from the house and 
from the earth, and looking as he said, " beyond that hori- 
zon which binds mortal eyes," he pointed — with a counte- 
nance and action that made the blood run back upon the 
aching heart — to those celestial beings who were hovering 
over the scene, and waiting with anxiety for a decision which 
involved the happiness or misery of more than half the hu- 
man race. To those beings — with the same thrilling look 
and action — he had just addressed an invocation that made 
every nerve shudder with supernatural horror — when, lo ! a 
storm at that instant arose, which shook the whole building, 
and the spirits whom he had called seemed to have come at 
nis bidding. Nor did his eloquence, or the storm, imme- 
diately cease — but availing himself of the incident, with a 
master's art, he seemed to mix in the fight of his ethereal 
auxiliaries, and " rising on the wings of the tempest, to seize 
upon the artillery of Heaven, and direct its fiercest thunders 
against the heads of his adversaries." The scene became 
insupportable ; and the house rose without the formality of 
adjournment, the members rushing from their seats with pre- 
cipitation and confusion.* 

* The words above quoted are those of Judge Archibald Stewart ; 

a gentleman who was present, a member of the convention, and one 

of those who voted against the side of the question supported by Mr. 

Henry. The incident, as given in the text, is wholly founded on the 

2 R 27 



314 WIRT S LIFE OF 

But all his efforts were in vain. Either the justice of the 
opposing cause, or the -powers of his adversaries, or the pre- 
judged opinions and instructions of the members, rendered 
his reasoning and his eloquence equally unavailing. Out 
of a house, composed of one hundred and sixty-eight mem- 
bers, the question of ratification was carried by a majority 
of ten. Mr. Henry himself seemed to have a presage of this 
result. After the storm which has been mentioned, Colonel 
Innis, who, in his character of attorney-general, had been 
hitherto attending a court of oyer and terminer, came into 
the house, and the debate was renewed. Mr. Henry, in an- 
swering him, closed the last speech which he delivered on the 
floor, with the following remarks : — 

" I beg pardon of this house for having taken up more time 
than came to m.y share ; and I thank them for the patience 
and polite attention with which I have been heard. If I 
shall be in the minority, I shall have those painful sensa- 
tions which arise from a conviction of being overpowered in 
a good cause. Yet, I will be a peaceable citizen ! My head, 
my hand, and my heart, shall be free to retrieve the loss of 
liberty, and remove the defects of that system, in a constitu- 
tional way. I wish not to go to violence, but wiJl wait 
with hopes that the spirit which predominated in the revolu- 
tion is not yet gone : nor the cause of those who are attached 
to the revolution yet lost — I shall therefore patiently wait, 
in expectation of seeing that government changed, so as to 
be compatible with the safety, liberty, and happiness of the 
people." 

statements of those who were witnesses of the scene ; and by com- 
paring it with the corresponding passage in the printed debates, the 
reader may decide how far these are to be relied on as specimens of 
Mr. Henry's eloquence. 



PATRICK HENRY. 315 

The objections, however, which had been urged, and the 
arguments by which they had been supported, although they 
had not succeeded in preventing the ratification of the con- 
stitution, had produced a very serious effect on the house. 
Before their final dissolution, they agreed to a bill of rights, 
and a series of amendments (twenty in number) embracing 
and providing for the objections of Mr. Henry and his asso- 
ciates. A copy of these amendments, engrossed on parch- 
ment, and signed by the president of the convention, was 
ordered to be transmitted to congress, together with the in- 
strument of ratification. Similar copies were ordered to be 
transmitted to the executives and legislatures of the several 
states ; and fifty copies of the ratification and proposed 
amendments were ordered to be struck for the use of each 
county in this commonwealth. 

Mr. Henry lost no ground with the people, at the time, for 
the part which he had taken on this occasion ; and when 
afterward the constitution began to develop its tendencies by 
practical operation, so many of his predictions were believed 
by a majority of the people of Virginia to be fulfilled, and so 
many more in a rapid progress of fulfilment, that his charac- 
ter for political penetration rose higher than ever. That he 
had lost no ground at the time, two signal proofs were given 
in the session of assembly immediately following that of 
the convention. The latter body rose on the 27th of June, 
and the assembly met on the 20th of October following. 
This interval had been too short to permit the subsidence of 
that high excitement, which the canvass of the constitution 
had provoked ; and the assembly was consequently discrim- 
inated by feelings of party as strong and determined, as 
those which had characterized the convention itself. 

The constitution having been adopted by a sufficient num- 



316 WIRTS LIFE OF 

ber of states to carry it into effect, it became necessary at 
this session to provide for its organization, and, among other 
measures, to choose two senators to represent this state, in 
the congress of the United States. For this office, Mr. Mad- 
ison was presented, by those who were at that time distin- 
guished by the appellation of federalists ; by which nothing 
more was then meant, than that they were advocates for 
the adoption of the new federal constitution. The anti-fede- 
ralists, on the contrary, who were alarmed by the vast pow- 
ers which they considered as granted by the constitution, re- 
garded it as a salutary check on the constructive extension 
of those powers, and as the best means of securing those 
amendments which they deemed essential to the liberties of 
the people, that the first congress should be composed of 
men of their own sentiments. In opposition to Mr. Madison, 
therefore, Mr. Henry took the unusual liberty of nominating 
two candidates, Mr. Richard H. Lee and Mr. Grayson ; and, 
notwithstanding the great accession of character which Mr. 
Madison had acquired by the ability with which he had 
espoused the ratification of the constitution, those gentlemen 
were elected by a considerable majority. 

At the same session of the assembly, Mr. Henry whose 
mind seems to have been filled with the most oppressive soli- 
citude by the unconditional adoption of the constitution, and 
who brooded with correspondent anxiety over the most effec- 
tive means of procuring amendments, moved, in the com- 
mittee of the whole house, the following preamble and re- 
solutions : — 

" Whereas the convention of delegates of the people of 
this commonwealth did ratify a constitution or form of gov- 
ernment for the United States, referred to them for their 



PATRICK HENRY. 317 

consideration, and did also declare that sundry amendments 
to exceptionable parts of the same ought to be adopted ; 
and whereas the subject-matter of the amendments agreed to 
by the said convention involves all the great, essential, and 
unalienable rights, liberties, and privileges of freemen ; many 
of which, if not cancelled, are rendered insecure under the said 
constitution, until the same shall be altered and amended : — 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that, 
for quieting the minds of the good citizens of this common- 
wealth — and securing their dearest rights and liberties — and 
preventing those disorders which must arise under a govern- 
ment not founded in the confidence of the people — application 
be made to the congress of the United States, as soon as they 
shall assemble under the said constitution, to call a convention 
for proposing amendments to the same, according to the mode 
therein directed. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
a committee ought to be appointed to draw up and report to 
the house, a proper instrument of writing, expressing the sense 
of the general assembly, and pointing out the reasons which 
induce them to urge their application thus early, for the calling 
the aforesaid convention of the states. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
the said committee ought to be instructed to prepare the draft 
of a letter, in answer to one received from his excellency 
George Clinton, Esq., president of the convention of New 
York — and a circular letter, on the aforesaid subject, to the 
other states in the union, expressive of the wish of the general 
assembly of this commonwealth, that they may join in an 
application to the new congress, to appoint a convention of 
the states, so soon as the congress shall assemble under 
the new constitution." 

27* 



318 W IRT S LIFE OF 

These were carried in committee, and immediately re- 
ported to the liouse ; when a motion was made to amend 
them, by striking out from the word " whereas," and substi- 
tuting, in heu of the original, the following preamble and 
resolutions : — 

" Whereas, the delegates appointed to represent the good 
people of this commonwealth, in the late convention held in 
the month of June last, did, by their act of the 25th of the 
same month, assent to and ratify the constitution, recom- 
mended on the 17th day of September, 1787, by the federal 
convention for the government of the United States, de- 
claring themselves, with a solemn appeal to the Searcher 
of hearts for the purity of their intentions, under the con- 
viction, ' that whatsoever imperfections might exist in the 
constitution, ought rather to be examined in the mode 
prescribed therein, than to bring the Union into danger 
by a delay, with a hope of obtaining amendments previous 
to the ratification.' And whereas, in pursuance of the 
said declaration, the same convention did, by their sub- 
sequent act of the 27th June, aforesaid, agree to such 
amendments to the said constitution of the government for 
the United States, as were by them deemed necessary 
to be recommended to the consideration of the congress 
which shall first assemble under the said constitution, to 
be acted upon according to the mode prescribed in the 
fifth article thereof; at the same time enjoining it upon 
their representatives in congress, to exert all their influence, 
and use all reasonable and legal methods, to obtain a 
ratification of the foregoing alterations and provisions, in the 
manner provided by the fifth article of the said constitution, 
and in all congressional laws to be passed in the meantime, 



PATRICK HENRY. 319 

to conform to the spirit of those amendments as far as the 
said constitution would admit. 

" Resolved, therefore, that it is the opinion of this commit- 
tee, that an application ought to be made, in the name and 
on the behalf of the legislature of this commonwealth, to the 
congress of the United States, so soon as they shall assemble 
under the said constitution, to pass an act recommending to 
the legislatm-es of the several states, the ratification of a bill 
of rights, and of certain articles of amendment, proposed by 
the convention of this state, for the adoption of the United 
States ; and that, until the said act shall be ratified in pur- 
suance of the fifth article of the said constitution of the 
government for the United States, congress do conform 
their ordinances to the true spirit of the said bill of rights 
and articles of amendment. 

" Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that 
the executive ought to be instructed to transmit a copy of 
the foregoing resolution to the congress of the United States, 
so soon as they shall assem.ble, and to the legislatures and 
executive authorities of each state in the union." 

On this proposal of amendment a very animated debate 
ensued, which resulted in its rejection, and the adoption of 
the original report, by a majority of more than two for one. 

These two measures — the election of the senators named 
by Mr. Henry, in opposition to so formidable a competitor as 
Mr. Madison — and the carrying so strong a measure as the 
call of a new continental convention, for the purpose of 
revising and altering the constitution — certainly furnish the 
most decisive proof, that his influence remained unimpaired 
by the part which he had taken in the convention of the 
state. 



320 WIRT S LIFE OF 

It was in the course of the debate which has been just 
mentioned, that Mr. Henry was driven from his usual deco- 
rum into a retahation, that became a theme of great pubhc 
merriment at the time, and has continued ever since one of 
the most popular anecdotes that relate to him. He had 
insisted, it seems, with great force, that the speedy adoption 
of the am.endments was the only measure that could secure 
the great and unalienable rights of the freemen of this country 
— that the people were known to be exceedingly anxious for 
this measure — that it was the only step which could reconcile 
them to the new constitution — and assure that public content- 
ment, security, and confidence, which were the sole objects 
of government, and without which no government could 
stand — that whatever might be the individual sentiments of 
gentlemen, yet the wishes of the people, the foundation of all 
authority, being known, they were bound to conform to those 
wishes — that, for his own part, he considered his opinion as 
nothing, when opposed to those of his constituents ; and that 
he was ready and willing at all times and on all occasions, 
" to boiv, ivith the utmost deference, to the majesty of the 
people.^'' — A young gentleman, on the federal side of the 
house, who had been a member of the late convention, and 
had in that body, received, on one occasion, a slight touch 
of Mr. Henry's lash, resolved now, in an ill-fated moment, to 
make a set charge upon the veteran, and brave him to the 
combat. He possessed fancy, a graceful address, and an 
easy, sprightly elocution ; and had been sent by his father, 
(an opulent man, and an officer of high rank and trust under 
the regal government) to finish his education in the colleges 
of England, and acquire the polish of the court of St. James ; 
where he had passed the ivhole period of the American revo- 
lution. Returning with advantages which were rare in 



PATRICK HENRY. 321 

this country, and with the confidence natural to his years, 
presuming a Httle too far upon those advantages, he seized 
upon the words, " bow to the majesty of the people," which 
Mr, Henry had used, and rung the changes upon them 
with considerable felicity. He denied the solicitude of 
the people for the amendments, so strenuously urged on 
the other side ; he insisted that the people thought their 
^'- great and unalienable rights" sufficiently secured by the 
constitution which they had adopted : that the preamble 
of the constitution itself, which was now to be considered as 
the language of the people, declared its objects to be, 
among others, the security of those very rights ; the people 
then declare the constitution the guarantee of their rights, 
while the gentleman, in opposition to this public declaration 
of their sentiments, insists upon Ids amendments as furnish- 
ing that guarantee ; yet the gentleman tells us, that "he bows 
to the majesty of the people :" these words he accompanied 
with a most graceful bow. " The gentleman," he proceeded, 
" had set himself in opposition to the will of the people, 
throughout the whole course of this transaction : the people 
approved of the constitution : the suffi-age ol their constitu- 
ents in the last convention had proved it — the people wished, 
most anxiously wished, the adoption of the constitution, as 
the only means of saving the credit and the honour of the 
country, and producing the stability of the miion : the gen- 
tleman, on the contrary, had placed himself at the head 
of those who opposed its adoption — yet, the gentlemmi is 
ever ready and willing, at all times and on all occasions, to 
boiv to the majesty of the people,''^ (with another profound 
and graceful bow.) Thus he proceeded, through a number 
of animated sentences, winding up each one with the same 
words, sarcastically repeated, and the accompaniment of 
2S 



322 WIRT S LIFE OF 

the same graceful obeisance. Among other things, he said, 
" it was of Httle importance whether a comitry was ruled 
by a despot, with a tiara on his head, or by a demagogue in 
a red cloak, a caul-bare wig," &;c, (describing Mr. Heniy's 
dress so minutely, as to draw every eye upon him,) " although 
he should prof ess on all occasions to bow to the majesty of 
the people." 

A gentleman who was present, and who, struck with 
the singularity of the attack, had the curiosity to number 
the vibrations on those words, and the accompanying 
action, states, that he counted thirteen of the most grace- 
ful bows he had ever beheld. The friends of Mr. Henry 
considered such an attack on a man of his years and 
high character as very little short of sacrilege ; on the 
other side of the house, there was, indeed, a smothered 
sort of dubious laugh, in which there seemed to be at 
least as much apprehension as enjoyment. Mr. Henry 
had heard the whole of it without any apparent mark of 
attention. 

The young gentleman having finished his philipic, 
very much at least to his own satisfaction, took his seat, 
with the gayest expression of triumph in his countenance — 
" Heu ! Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futures /" 
Mr. Henry raised himself up, heavily, and with affected 
awkwardness — " Mr. Speaker," said he, " I am a plain 
man, and have been educated altogether in Virginia. 
My whole life has been spent among planters, and other 
plain men of similar education, who have never had the 
advantage of that polish which a court alone can give, 
and which the gentleman over the way has so happily 
acquired ; indeed, sir, the gentleman's employments and 
mine (in common with the great mass of his countrymen) 

i I 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 323 

have been as widely different as our fortunes ; for while that 
gentleman was availing himself of the opportunity which a 
splendid fortune afforded him, of acquiring a foreign educa- 
tion, mixing among the great, attending levees and courts, 
basking in the beams of roijal favour at St. James\ and 
exchanging courtesies with crowned heads, I was engaged in 
the arduous toils of the revolution ; and was probably as 
far from thinking of acquiring those polite accomplishments 
w^hich the gentleman has so successfully cultivated, as that 
gentleman then was from sharing in the toils and dangers in 
which his U7ipolished countrymen were engaged. 1 will 
not, therefore, presume to vie with the gentleman in those 
courtly accomplishments, of which he has just given the 
house so agreeable a specimen ; yet such a bow as I can 
make, shall be ever at the service of the people." — Herewith, 
although there was no man who could make a more grace- 
ful bow than Mr. Henry, he made one so ludicrously awk- 
ward and clownish, as took the house by surprise, and put 
them into a roar of laughter. — " The gentleman, I hope, will 
commiserate the disadvantages of education under which I 
have laboured, and will be pleased to remember, that I have 
never been a favourite with that monarch, whose gracious 
smile he has had the happiness to enjoy." He pursued this 
contrast of situations and engagements, for fifteen or twenty 
minutes, without a smile, and without the smallest token of 
resentment, either in countenance, expression, or manner. 
" You would almost have sworn," says a correspondent, " that 
he thought himself making his apology for his own awk- 
wardness, before a full drawing-room at St. James'. I be- 
lieve there was not a person that heard him, the sufferer 
himself excepted, who did not feel every risible nerve affect- 
ed. His adversary meantime hung down his head, and 



324 W I R T S L I F E O F 

sinking lower and lower, until he was almost concealed be- 
hind the interposing forms, submitted to the discipline as 
quietly as a Russian malefactor, who had been beaten with 
the knout, till all sense of feeling was lost." 

The documents reported and adopted by the house of del- 
egates, in consequence of the foregoing resolutions, are the 
following — which are given because they are said to be from 
the pen of Mr. Henry : — 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that 
an application ought to be made, in the name and on behalf 
of the legislature of this commonwealth, to the congress of 
the United States, in the following words, to wit : — 

*' The good people of this commonwealth, 

" In convention assembled, having ratified the constitution 
submitted to their consideration, this legislature has, in con- 
formity to that act, and the resolutions of the United States 
in congress assembled, to them transmitted, thought proper 
to make the arrangements that were necessary for carrying 
it into effect. Having thus shown themselves obedient to the 
voice of their constituents, all America will find that so far 
as it depends on them, that plan of government will be car- 
ried into immediate operation. But the sense of the people 
of Virginia would be but in part complied with, and but 
little regarded, if we went no further. In the very moment 
of adoption, and coeval with the ratification of the new plan 
of government, the general voice of the convention of this 
state pointed to objects no less interesting to the people we 
represent, and equally entitled to your attention. At the 
same time that, from motives of affection for our sister states. 



PATRICK HENRY. 325 

the convention yielded their assent to the ratification, they 
gave the most unequivocal proofs that they dreaded its ope- 
ration under the present form. 

" In acceding to a government under this impression, pain- 
ful must have been the prospect, had they not derived con- 
solation from a full expectation of its imperfections being 
speedily amended. In this resource, therefore, they placed 
their confidence — a confidence that will continue to support 
them, while they have reason to believe they have not cal- 
culated upon it in vain. 

" In making known to you the objections of the people of 
this commonwealth to the new plan of government, we deem 
it unnecessary to enter into a particular detail of its defects, 
which they consider as involving all the great and unalien- 
able rights of freemen : For their sense on this subject, we 
refer you to the proceedings of their late convention, and the 
sense of this general assembly, as expressed in their resolu- 
tions of the day of . 

" We think proper, however, to declare that, in our opin- 
'ion, as those objections were not founded on speculative 
theory, but deduced from principles which have been estab- 
lished by the melancholy example of other nations, in dif- 
ferent ages — so they never will be removed, until the cause 
itself shall cease to exist. The sooner, therefore, the public 
apprehensions are quieted, and the government is possessed 
of the confidence of the people, the more salutary will be its 
operations, and the longer its duration. 

" The cause of amendments we consider as a common 
cause ; and since concessions have been made from political 
motives, which tve conceive may endanger the republic, we 
trust that a commendable zeal will be shown for obtaining 
those provisions, which experience has taught us are neces- 

28 



326 WIRTSLIFEOF 

sary to secure from danger the unalienable rights of humap 
nature. 

" The anxiety with which our countrymen press for the 
accomplishment of this important end, will ill admit of 
delay. The slow forms of congressional discussion and re 
commendation, if indeed they should ever agree to any 
change, would we fear be less certain of success. Happily 
for their wishes, the constitution hath presented an alterna- 
tive, by submitting the decision to a convention of the states 
To this, therefore, we resort, as the source from whence they 
are to derive relief from their present apprehensions. We 
do, therefore, in behalf of our constituents, in the most ear- 
nest and solemn manner, make this application to congress, 
that a convention be immediately called, of deputies from 
the several states, with full power to take into their conside- 
ration the defects of this constitution that have been sug- 
gested by the state conventions, and report such amendments 
thereto as they shall find best suited to promote our common 
interests, and secure to ourselves, and our latest posterity, the 
great and unalienable rights of mankind." 

Draft of a letter to Governor Clinton on the same subject : — 

" Sir, 

" The letter from the convention of the state of New- 
York hath been laid before us since our present session. 
The subject which it contemplated was taken up, and we 
have the pleasure to inform you of the entire concurrence in 
sentiment, between that honourable body and the represen- 
tatives in senate and assembly of the freemen of this com- 
monwealth. The propriety of immediately calling a con- 
vention of the states, to take into consideration the defects 



PATRICKHENRY. 327 

of the constitution was admitted; and in consequence 
thereof, an apphcation agreed to, to be presented to the con- 
gress, so soon as it shall be convened for the accomplish- 
ment of that important end. We herewith transmit to your 
excellency, a copy of this application, which we request may 
be laid before your assembly at their next meeting. We 
take occasion to express our most earnest wishes that it may 
obtain the approbation of New- York, and of all other sister 
states." 

Draft of a letter to the several states on the same subject : — 

" The freemen of this commonwealth, in convention as- 
sembled, having, at the same time that they ratified the fede- 
ral CO stitution, expressed a desire that many parts, which 
they considered as exceptionable parts, should be amended — 
the general assembly, as well from a sense of duty as a con- 
viction of its defects, have thought proper to take the earliest 
measures in their power, for the accomplishment of this im- 
portant object. They have accordingly agreed upon an ap- 
phcation to be presented to the congress, so soon as it shall 
be assembled, requesting that honourable body to call a con- 
vention of deputies from the several states, to take the same 
into their consideration, and report such amendments as they 
shall find best calculated to answer the purpose. As we 
conceive that all the good people of the United States are 
equally interested in obtaining those amendments that have 
been proposed, we trust that there will be a harmony in 
their sentiments and measures, upon this very interesting 
subject. We herewith transmit to you a copy of this appli- 
cation, and take the liberty to subjoin our earnest wishes 
that it may have your concurrence." 



328 PATRICK HENRY. 

In the two remaining years during which Mr. Henry 
continued a member of the assembly, I find nothing worthy 
of particular remark. In the spring of 1791, he declined a 
re-election, with the purpose of bidding a final adieu to 
public life : and although the tender of the most honourable 
appointments, the solicitations of his numerous friends and 
admirers, and ultimately his own wishes conspired to draw 
him from his retreat, he never again made his appearance in 
a public character. 



SECTION IX. 

Mr. Henry still continued, however, rather through ne- 
cessity than choice, the practice of the law : and in the 
fall of this year, 1791, a cause came on to be argued before 
the circuit court of the United States, in which he made 
what has been considered his most distinguished display of 
professional talents. This was the celebrated case of the 
British debts ; a case in which, from its great and extensive 
mterest, the whole power of the bar of Virginia was em- 
barked, and which was discussed with so much learning, ar- 
gument, and- eloquence, as to have placed that bar, in the esti- 
mation of the federal judges, (if the reports of the day may 
be accredited,) above all others in the United States. 

The cause was argued first in 1791, before Judges John- 
son and Blair, of the supreme court, and Griffin, judge of 
the district; and afterwards in 1793, before Judges Jay and 
Iredell, and the same district judge. Mr. Henry was one of 
the counsel for the defendant, and argued the cause on both 
occasions. The deep interest of the question, in a national 
point of view, and the manner in which it involved more par- 
ticularly the honour of the state of Virginia, and the fortunes 
of her citizens, had excited Mr. Henry to a degree of prepa- 
ration which he had never before made ; and he came forth, 
on this occasion^ a perfect master of every principle of law, 
national and municipal, which touched the subject of investi- 
gation in the must distant point. 
2 T 28* 



330 WIRTSLIFEOF 

Of the first argument, a manuscript report is still extant, 
taken in shorthand by Mr. Robertson, the same gentleman 
who reported the debates of the convention of Virginia in 
1788. The second argument was not reported; because, 
as Mr. Robertson states, he was informed by the counsel, 
that it would be nothing more than a repetition of the first ; 
and he adds, that he was afterward told it was much inferior. 
What must we conclude, then, as to the powers displayed by 
Mr. Henry in the first argument, when, in the coiurse of the 
second and inferior one, he extorted from Judge Iredell, as he 
sat on the bench, the exclamation : " Gracious God ! — He is 
an orator indeed /" 

The report of the first argument, as deciphered by Mr. 
Robertson, from his stenographic notes, has been obligingly 
submitted to the author of these sketches, and he has ex- 
tracted from it an imperfect analysis of Mr. Henry's speech. 
The report may unquestionably be relied on, so far as it 
professes to state the principles of law, and the substance 
of the arguments urged by the very eminent counsel engaged 
in the cause ; and in this point of view, it is to be la- 
mented that so valuable a work should still exist only in the 
form of a manuscript. But, as a sample of Mr. Henry's 
peculiar and inimitable eloquence, it is subject to all the ob- 
jections which have been already urged to the printed de- 
bates of the Virginia convention. This manuscript report 
bears upon its face the most conclusive proof of its inaccuracy 
in those passages in which it attempts to exhibit either the 
captivating flights of Mr. Henry's fancy, or those unexpected 
and overwhelming assaults which he made upon the hearts 
of his judges ; for in all such passages, (it is believed, with- 
out an exception,) the pen has been drawn through the 
sentence, as originally written, in svich a manner, however. 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 331 

as to leave the words still legible ; while the same thought, 
or something like it, has been interlined in other words ; and 
even the interlineations themselves are oftener than otherwise 
erased, altered, and farther interlined, for the purpose of 
seeking to amend the expression : so that, in casting one's 
eyes over the manuscript report of Mr. Henry's speech, in 
order to single out the most brilliant passages, those which 
are the most blotted and blurred by erasures and interlinea- 
tions may be selected at once, without the hazard of mistake. 
Hence, it is obvious, that the reporter had not in his steno- 
graphic notes, the very expression of the speaker ; but 
some hint merely of the thought, which he was afterward 
unable to fill up to his own satisfaction. If farther evidence 
on this subject were required, it is found in this circumstance : 
that, on reading Mr. Robertson's imitations of the splendid 
parts of Mr. Henry's speech to several of those who heard 
it delivered, there has not been one who has not turned off 
from the recital with the strongest expressions of disappoint- 
ment, and in several instances corrected by memory the 
language of the reporter. 

This explanation is equally due to the memory of Mr. 
Henry, to the reader, and the author ; for the author is fully 
aware, that if the truth of the general character which he 
has attempted to give of Mr. Henry's eloquence shall be 
tested by those imperfect specimens to which, for w^ant of 
more accurate ones, he has been compelled to resort, discredit 
will be thrown upon the whole work, and it will be regarded 
rather as romance than history. But the ingenuous and 
candid reader will look beyond those poor and wretched imi- 
tations, and my own equally poor and wrretched descriptions, 
to that proof of Mr. Henry's eloquence which is furnished 
by its practical effects. Can there be any doubt of the su- 



332 WIRT S LIFE OF 

preme eloquence of that man who awakened and hushed 
at his pleasure, " the stormy wave of the multitude ?" who, 
by his powers of speech, roused the whole American people 
from north to south ? put the revolution into motion, and 
bore it upon his shoulders, as Atlas is said to do the heavens ? 
to wliose charms of persuasion, not the rabble merely, but all 
ranks of society, have borne the most unanimous evidence ? 
who moved not merely the populace, the rocks, and stones of 
the field, but, "by the summit took the mountain-oak, and 
made him stoop to the plain ?" Instead, then, of comparing 
our descriptions of Mr. Henry's eloquence with the speci- 
mens which his reporters have made of it, let the reader com- 
pare that description with the effects which it actually 
wrought, and the universal testimony which is borne to it, by 
the rapturous admiration of every one who ever had the hap- 
piness to hear him ; and the author, so far from being afraid 
of the charge of exaggeration, will be apprehensive only of 
that of presumption, in attempting a description of powers so 
perfectly undescribable. 

But to return to his argument in the case of the British 
debts. In order to render intelligible the analysis whicli we 
propose to give to the reader, it will be necessary to prefix to 
it a statement of the case, of the pleadings, and the points 
made in argument, by the opening counsel. 

William Jones, a British subject, as surviving partner of 
the mercantile house of Farrell and Jones, brought an action 
of debt, in the federal circuit court at Richmond, against 
Doctor Thomas Walker, of the county of Albemarle, in Vir- 
ginia, on a bond which bore date before the revolutionary 
war; to wit, on the 11th of May, 1772. To this action the 
defendant pleaded five several pleas : — 



PATRICK HENRY. 333 

1 . The first was, the plea of payment generally, on which 
the plaintiff took issue ; but it was not tried, the cause having 
gone off on the demurrers growing out of the subsequent 
pleadings. 

2. In his second plea, the defendant relies on the act of 
sequestration, passed by the legislature of Virginia during 
the revolutionary war, to wit, on the 20th of October, 1777 ; 
by which it was enacted, that " it should be lawful for any 
citizen of this commonwealth, owing money to a subject of 
Great Britain, to pay the same, or any part thereof, from time 
to time, as he should think fit, into the loan office of the 
state ; taking thereout a certificate for the same in the name 
of the creditor, with an endorsement under the hand of the 
commissioner of the loan office, expressing the name of the 
payee, delivering such certificate to the governor and council, 
ivhose receijyt should discharge him from so much of the 
debt ;" — and the defendant exhibits the governor's receipt for 
2151/. 185. which he offers in bar to so much of the plain- 
tiff's demand. 

3. In his third plea, he sets out the act of forfeiture, passed 
by the assembly on the third of May, 1779, whereby it was, 
among other things, enacted, "that all the property, real and 
personal, within the commonwealth, belonging at that time 
to any British subject, should be deemed to be vested in the 
commonwealth;" as also the act of the 6th of May, 1782, 
whereby it was enacted, " that no demand whatsoever, ori- 
ginally due to a subject of Great Britain, should be recover- 
able in any court of this commonwealth, although the same 
might be transferred to a citizen of this state, or to any other 
person capable of maintaining such action, unless the assign 



334 WIRTSLIFEOF' 

ment had been or might be made for a valuable considera- 
tion bona fide paid before the first of May, 1777:" and the 
plea insists that the debt, in the declaration mentioned, was 
personal property of a British subject, forfeited to the com- 
monwealth under the first-mentioned act, and a demand, 
whose recovery in the courts of the commonwealth was 
barred by the last. 

4. The fourth plea takes the ground, that the king of 
Britain and his subjects were still alien enemies, and that 
the state of war still continued, on the ground of the several 
direct violations of the definitive treaty of peace, which fol- 
low: — 1. In continuing to carry off the negroes in his pos- 
session, the property of American citizens, and refusing to 
deliver them, or permit the owners to take them, according to 
the express stipulations of that treaty: — 2. In the forcible 
retention of the forts Niagara and Detroit, and the adjacent 
territory: — 3. In supplying the Indians, who were at war 
with the United States, with arms and ammunition, furnished 
within the territories of the United States, to wit, at the forts 
Detroit and Niagara, and at other forts and stations forcibly 
held by the troops and armies of the king, within the United 
States ; and in purchasing from the Indians, within the ter- 
ritories aforesaid, the plunder taken by them in war from the 
United States, and the persons of American citizens made 
prisoners ; which several infractions, the plea contends, had 
abolished the treaty of peace, and placed Great Britain and 
the United States in a state of war; and that hence, the 
plaintiff, being an alien enemy, had no right to sue in the 
courts of the United States. 

6. The fifth plea sets forth, that at the time of contracting 



.PATRICK HENRY. 335 

the debt in the declaration mentioned, the plaintiff and the 
defendant were fellow-subjects of the same king and govern- 
ment ; that on the fourth of July, 1776, the government of 
the British monarch in this country wsls dissolved, and the 
coallegiance of the parties severed ; whereby the plea 
contends, that the debt in the declaration mentioned was 
annulled. 

To the second plea the plaintiff replied, insisting on the 
treaty of peace of 1783, whereby it was stipulated, that cred- 
itors on either side should meet with no lawful impediment 
to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of all 
bonajide debts theretofore contracted; and also on the con- 
stitution of the United States of 1787, by which it had been 
expressly declared, that treaties which were then made, or 
which should thereafter be made, under the authority of 
the United States, should be the supreme law of the land, 
any thing in the constitution, or the laws of any state, to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 

The defendant rejoined, that the treaty had been annulled 
by the infractions of it on the part of Great Britain, and so 
could not aid the cause of the plaintiff; and farther, that the 
debt in the declaration mentioned was not bona fide due, and 
owing to the plaintiff at the date of the treaty, insomuch 
as the same (or at least 2151Z. I85. of it) had been dis- 
charged by the payment set forth in the second plea ; and 
hence, that it was not a subsisting debt, within the terms and 
pTOvisions of the treaty. 

To this rejoinder, as also to the third, fourth, and fifth 
pleas of the defendant, the plaintiff demurred ; and the cause 
came on to be argued, on these demurrers, at Richmond, on 
the 24th of November, 1791. 

The Virginian reader will readily estimate the splendour 



336 WIRT S LIFE OF 

and power of the discussion in this case, when he learns the 
names of the counsel engaged in it ; on the part of the plain- 
tiff, then, were Mr. Ronald, Mr. Baker, Mr. Wick ham, and 
Mr. Starke ; and on that of the defendant, Mr. Henry, Mr. 
Marshall, (the present chief justice of the United States,) Mr. 
Alexander Campbell, and Mr. Innis, the attorney-general of 
Virginia : I mention their names in the order in which they 
spoke on their respective sides. 

The cause was opened with great fairness and ability, by 
Mr. Ronald and Mr. Baker, in succession ; they were an- 
swered by all the counsel of the defendant ; and Mr. Wick- 
ham, Mr. Starke, and Mr. Baker, were heard in the reply. 

The opening counsel made the following points : — 

First, That debts were not a subject of confiscation in war. 

Secondly, That if they were, Virginia, at the time of pas- 
sing the acts relied on by the defendant, was not a sovereign 
and independent state. Great Britain not having at that time 
assented to her independence ; and hence, that she had not 
the power of legislating away the debts of fellow-subjects 
not represented in her legislative councils — which councils, 
were themselves a usurpation in the eye of the law. 

Thirdly, That if debts were subject to confiscation, and 
Virginia were competent to pass laws to that effect, she had 
not done so ; and Mr. Baker particularly entered into a 
minute and ingenious scrutiny of the language of the several 
acts of assembly, to prove that, so far from having been for- 
feited, the debts were recognised as existing British debts 
down to the year 1782. 



P A T R I C K H £ N R Y . 337 

Fourthly, That if all these points were against the plaintiif, 
the right of recovering those debts was restored by the treaty 
of 1783, and the constitution of the United States, which re- 
cognised that treaty as the supreme law of the land ; and, 

Fifthly, That the alleged infractions of the treaty on the 
part of Great Britain did not produce the effect of abolishing 
the treaty ; that this was a national concern, with which the 
individual plaintiff and defendant had nothing to do ; that the 
question of infraction was one to be decided by the supreme 
power of the nation onl)^, and one of which the court could 
not, with any propriety, take cognizance. 

Mr. Baker closed his opening speech on Thursday evening, 
the 24th of November, and it was publicly understood that 
Mr. Henry was to commence his reply on the next day. 
The legislature was then in session; but when 11 o'clock, 
the hour for the meeting of the court, arrived, the speaker 
found himself without a house to do business. All his au- 
thority and that of his sergeant-at-arms were unavailing to 
keep the members in their seats ; every consideration of pub- 
lic duty yielded to the anxiety which they felt, in common 
with the rest of their fellow-citizens, to hear this great man 
on this truly great and extensively-interesting question. Ac- 
cordingly, when the court was ready to proceed to business, 
the court-room of the capitol, large as it is, was insufficient 
to contain the vast concourse that was pressing to enter it. 
The portico, and the area in which the statue of Washing- 
ton stands, were filled with a disappointed crowd, who, never- 
theless, maintained their stand without. In the court-room 
itself, the judges through condescension to the public anxiety, 
relaxed the rigour of respect which they were in the habit 
2U 29 



338 W I R T S L T F E O F 

of exacting, and permitted the vacant seats of the bench, 
and even the windows behind it, to be occupied by the im- 
patient multitude. The noise and tumult, occasioned by 
seeking a more favourable station, were at length hushed, and 
the profound silence which reigned within the room gave 
notice to those without, that the orator had risen, or was on 
the point of rising. Every eye in front of the bar was rivet- 
ed upon him with the most eager attention ; and so still and 
deep was the silence, that every one might hear the throbbing 
of his own heart. Mr. Henry, however, appeared wholly 
unconscious that all this preparation was on his account, and 
rose with as much simplicity and composure, as if the occa- 
sion had been one of ordinary occurrence. Nothing can be 
more plain, modest, and unaffected, than his exordium : — 
" I stand here, may it please your honoius, to support, ac- 
cording to my power, that side of the question which re- 
spects the American debtor. I beg leave to beseech the pa- 
tience of this honourable court ; because the subject is very 
great and important, and because I have not only the great- 
ness of the subject to consider, but those numerous observa- 
tions which have come from the opposing counsel to answer. 
Thus, therefore, the matter proper for my discussion is una- 
voidably accumulated. Sir, there is a circumstance in this 
case, that is more to be deplored than that which I have just 
mentioned, and that is this : those animosities which the 
injustice of the British nation hath produced, and which I 
had well hoped would never again be the subject of discus- 
sion, are necessarily brought forth. The conduct of that 
nation, which bore so hard upon us in the late contest, be- 
comes once more the subject of investigation. I know, sir, 
how well it becomes a liberal man and a Christian to forget 
and to forgive. As individuals professing a holy religion, it 



PATRICK HENRY. 339 

is our bounden duty to forgive injuries done us as individuals. 
But when to the character of Christian you add the charac- 
ter of patriot, you are in a different situation. Our mild and 
holy system of religion inculcates an admirable maxim of 
forbearance. If your enemy smite one cheek, turn the 
other to him. But you must stop there. You cannot apply 
this to your country. As members of a social community, 
this maxim does not apply to you. When you consider in- 
juries done to your country, your political duty tells you of 
vengeance. Forgive as a private man, but never forgive pub- 
lic injuries. Observations of this nature are exceedingly un- 
pleasant, but it is my duty to use them." 

With the same primeval simplicity, he enters upon the ar- 
gument ; not making a formal division of the whole subject, 
but merely announcing the single proposition which he was 
about to maintain for the time ; thus, immediately after the 
exordium which has been quoted he proceeds thus : — 

" The first point which I shall endeavour to establish will 
be, that debts in common wars become subject to forfeiture ; 
and if forfeited in common wars, much more must they be 
so in a revolution war, as the late contest was. In con- 
sidering this subject, it will be necessary to define what a 
debt is. I mean by it an engagement, or promise, by one 
man to pay another, for a valuable consideration, an ade- 
quate price. By a contract thus made, for a valuable con- 
sideration, there arises what, in the law phrase, is called a 
lien on the body and goods of the promissor or debtor. 
This interest, which the creditor becomes entitled to, in the 
goods and body of his debtor, is such as may be taken from 
the creditor, if he be found the subject of a hostile country. 



340 \V I R T S L I F E F 

This position is supported by tlie following authorities." He 
then cites and reads copious extracts from Grotius and Vat- 
tel, which seem to support his position decisively — and then 
proceeds thus : — " This authority decides in the most clear 
and satisfactory manner, that, as a nation, we had powers 
as extensive and unlimited as any nation on earth. This 
great writer, after stating the equality and independence of 
nations, and who are, and who are not enemies, does away 
the distinction between corporeal and incorporeal rights, and 
declares that war gives the same right over the debts, as over 
the other goods of an enemy. He illustrates his doctrine by 
the instance of Alexander's remitting to the Thessalians, 
a debt due by them to the Theban commonwealth : this 
is a case in point — for supposing the subjects of Alexander 
had been indebted to the Thebans, might he not have re- 
mitted the debts due by them to that people, as well as the 
debts due them by his allies, the Thessalians ? Let me not 
be told that he was entitled to the goods of the Thebans, be- 
cause he had conquered them. If he could remit a debt due 
by those whose claim of friendship was so inferior, those 
who were only attached to him by the feeble ties of contin- 
gent and temporary alliance — if his Macedonians, his imme- 
diate and natural subjects, were indebted to the Thebans, 
could he not have remitted their debts ? This author states, 
in clear, unequivocal terms, by fair inference and unavoida- 
ble deduction, that when two nations are at war, either na- 
tion has a right, according to the laws of nature and nations, 
to remit to its own citizens debts which they may owe to 
the enemy. If this point wanted further elucidation, it is 
pointedly proved by the authority which I first quoted from 
Grotius, that it is an inseparable concomitant of sovereign 
power, that debts and contracts similar to those which ex- 



PATRICK HENRY. 341 

isted in America, at the time the war with Great Britain 
broke out, may, in virtue of the eminent domain, or right, be 
cancelled and destroyed. ' A king has a greater right in 
the goods of his subjects, for the public advantage, than 
the j^roprietors themselves. And lohen the exigency of the 
state requires a supply, every man is more obliged to 
contribute toward it, than to satisfy his creditors. The 
sovereign may discharge a debtor from the obligation of 
paying, either for a certain time, or for ever.'' What lan- 
guage can be more expressive than this ? Can the mind of 
man conceive any thing more comprehensive ? Rights are 
of two sorts, private and inferior, or eminent and superior^ 
such as the community hold over the persons and estates of 
its members for the common benefit. The latter is para- 
mount to the former. A king or chief of a nation has a 
greater right than the owner himself over any property in 
the nation. The individual who owns private property can- 
not dispose of it, contrary to the will of his sovereign, to in- 
jure the public. This author is known to be no advocate for 
tyrann}'-, yet he mentions that a king has a superior power 
over the property in his nation, and that by virtue thereof, he 
may discharge his subjects for ever from debts which they 
owe to an enemy. 

" The instance which our author derives from the Roman 
history, affords a striking instance of the length to which 
the necessities and exigencies of a nation will warrant it to 
go. It was a juncture critical to the Roman affairs. But 
their situation was not more critical or dangerous than ours 
at the time these debts Avere confiscated. It was after the 
total defeat and dreadful slaughter at Cannae, when the state 
was in the most imminent danger. Our situation in the 
late war was equally perilous. Every consideration must 
2U 29* 



342 WIRTSLIFEOF 

give way to the public safety. That admirable Roman 
maxim, solus populi suprema lex, governed that people in 
every emergency, [t is a maxim that ought to govern every 
community. It was not peculiar to the Roman people. The 
impression came from the same source from which we derive 
our existence. Self-preservation, that great dictate implanted 
in us by nature, must regulate our conduct ; we must have 
a power to act according to our necessities, and it remains for 
human judgment to decide what are the proper occasions 
for the exercise of this power. Call to your recollection our 
situation during the late arduous contest. Was it not neces- 
sary in our day of trial, to go to the last iota of human 
right ? The Romans fought for their altars and household 
gods. By these terms they meant every thing dear and 
valuable to men. Was not our stake as important as theirs? 
But many other nations engage in the most bloody wars for 
the most trivial and frivolous causes. If other nations who 
carried on wars for a mere point of honour, or a punctilio of 
gallantry, were warranted in the exercise of this power, 
were not we, who fought for every thing most inestimable 
and valuable to mankind, justified in using it? Our finances 
were in a more distressing situation than theirs at this awful 
period of our existence.*^ Our war was in opposition to the 
most grievous oppression — we resisted, and our resistance 
was approved and blessed by Heaven./<The most illustrious 
men who have considered human affairs, when they have 
revolved human rights, and considered how far a nation is 
warranted to act in cases of emergency, declare that the only 
ingredient essential to the rectitude and validity of its 
measures is, that they be for the public good. I need hardly 
observe that the confiscation of these debts was for the public 
good. Those who decided it were constitutionally enabled 



PATRICK HENRY. 343 

to determine it. Grotius shows that you have not only- 
power over the goods of your enemies, but according to the 
exigency of affairs, you may seize the property of your citi- 
zens." After reading the apposite passage from Grotius, he 
says : — " I read these authorities to prove, that the property 
of an enemy is hable to forfeiture, and that debts are as much 
the subject of hostile contest as tangible property. And 
Vattel, p. 484, as before mentioned, pointedly enumerates 
rights and debts among such property of the enemy as is 
liable to confiscation. To this last author I must frequently 
resort in the course of my argument. I put great confidence 
in him, from the weight of his authority — for he is univer- 
sally respected by all the wise and enlightened of mankind, 
being no less celebrated for his great judgment and know- 
ledge, than for his universal philanthropy. One of his first 
principles of the law of nations is, a perfect equality of rights 
among nations; that each nation ought to be left in the 
peaceable enjoyment of that liberty it has derived from na- 
ture. I refer yonr honours to his preliminary discourse from 
6th to the 1 2th page ; and as it will greatly elucidate the sub- 
ject, and tend to prove the position I have attempted to support, 
I will read sections 17,18, 19,and20, of this discourse." Having 
read these sections, he touches transiently, but powerfully, 
the objection to the want of national independence to pass 
the laws of forfeiture, till that independence was assented to 
by the king of Great Britain. " When the war commenced," 
said he, " these things, called British debts, lost their quality 
of external obligation, and became matters of internal obliga 
tion, because the creditors had no right of constraint over the 
debtors. They were before the war, matters of perfect ex- 
ternal obhgation, accompanied by a right of constraint ; but 
the war having taken away this right of constraint over the 



344 AVIRT S LIFE OF 

debtors, they were changed into an internal obhgation, bind- 
ing the conscience only. For it will not surely be denied, 
that the creditor lost the right of constraint over his debtor. 

" From the authority of this respectable author, therefore — 
from the clearest principles of the laws of nature and nations, 
these debts became subject to forfeiture or remission. Those 
authors state, in language as emphatic and nervous as the 
human mind can conceive, or the human tongue can utter, 
that independent nations have the power of confiscating the 
property of their enemies ; and so had this gallant nation, 
America, being a sovereign and complete nation, in all its 
forms and departments, possessed all the rights of the most 
powerful and ancient nations. Respecting the power of 
legislation, it was a nation complete, and without human con- 
trol. Respecting public justice, it was a nation blessed by 
Heaven, with the experience of past times ; not like those 
nations, whose crude systems of jurisprudence originated in 
the ages of barbarity and ignorance of human rights. Amer- 
ica was a sovereign nation, when her sons stepped forth to 
resist the unjust hand of oppression, and declared themselves 
independent. The consent of Great Britain was not neces- 
sary (as the gentlemen on the other side urge) to create us a 
nation. Yes, sir, we were a nation, long before the mon- 
arch of that little island in the Atlantic ocean gave his puny 
assent to it." — These words he accompanied by a most sig- 
nificant gesture — rising on tiptoe — pointing as to a vast dis- 
tance, and half-closing his eyelids, as if endeavouring with 
extreme difficulty, to draw a sight on some object almost too 
small for vision — and blowing out the words puny assent, 
with lips curled with unutterable contempt. — "America was, 
long before that time, a great and gallant nation. In the 
estimation of other nations we icere so : the beneficent hand 



PATRICK HENRY. 345 

of Heaven enabled her to triumph, and secured to her the 
most sacred rights mortals can enjoy. When these illus- 
trious authors, these friends to human nature, these kind in- 
structers of human errors and frailties,* contemplate the obli- 
gations and corresponding rights of nations, and define the 
internal right, which is without constraint and not binding, 
do they not understand such rights as these, which the Brit- 
ish creditors now claim ? Here this man tells us what con- 
science says ought to be done, and what is compulsory. 
These British debts must come within the grasp of human 
power, like all other human things. They ceased to have 
that external quality, and fell into that mass of power which 
belonged to our legislature by the law of nations." 

He comes now to a very serious obstacle, which it required 
both address and vigour to remove. Vattel, whom he had 
cited to support his position of the forfeitable character of 
debts, and who, so far as Mr. Henry had read him, does sup- 
port him explicitly, annexes a qualification to the principle, 
which had been pressed with great power by the gentlemen 
who opened the cause. The curiosity of the reader will be 
gratified by seeing the manner in which he surmounted the 
objection. " But we are told, that admitting this to be true 
in the fullest latitude, yet the customary law of Europe is 
against the exercise of this power of confiscation of debts ; 
in support of which position, they rely on what is added by 
Vattel, p. 484. Let us examine what he says : — ' The 
sovereign has naturally the same right over what his subjects 
may be indebted to enemies : therefore, he may confiscate 

* In the second argument, he eulogized the writers on the laws of 
nations, as "benevolent spirits, who held up the torch of science to a 
benighted world." 
2X 



346 WIRT S LIFE OF 

debts of this nature, if the term of payment happen in the 
time of war, or at least he may prohibit his subjects from 
paying while the war lasts. But at present, in regard to 
the advantage and safety of commerce, all the sovereigns 
of Europe have departed from this rigour. And as this 
custotn has generally been received, he who should act 
contrary to it, would injure the public faith ; for stran- 
gers trusted his subjects only, from a firm persuasion, 
that the general custom would be observed.' Excellent 
man ! and excellent sentiments ! The principle cannot be 
denied to be good : but when you apply it to the case be- 
fore the court, does it warrant their conclusions ? The au- 
thor says, that although a nation has a right to confiscate 
debts due by its people to an enemy, yet, at present the cus- 
tom of Europe is contrary. It is not enough for this author 
to tell us that this custom is contrary to the 7-ight. He 
admits the right. Let us see whether this custom has ex- 
istence here. Vattel, having spoken of the necessary law of 
nations, which is immutable, and the obligations whereof 
are indispensable, proceeds to distinguish the several other 
kinds of natural law in the same preliminary discourse, pp. 11 
and 12, thus : — 

* Certain maxims and customs consecrated by long use, 
and observed by nations, between each other, as a kind of 
law, form this customary law of nations, or the custom of 
nations. This law is founded on a tacit consent, or, if you 
will, on a tacit convention of the nations that observe it, 
with respect to each other. Whence, it appears, that it is 
only binding to those nations that have adopted it, and 
that is not universal, any more than conventional laws. It 
must be here also observed of this customary law, that the 



PATRICK HENRY. 347 

particulars relating to it do not belong to a systematic treatise 
on the law of nations, but that we ought to confine ourselves 
to the giving a general theory of it^ that is, to the rules which 
here ought to be observed, as well with respect to its effects, 
as in relation to the matter itself: and in this last respect, 
these rules will serve to distinguish the lawful and innocent 
customs, from those that are unjust and illegal ! 

" ' When a custom is generally established, either between 
all the polite nations in the world, or only between those of 
a certain continent, as of Europe for example ; or those 
who have a more frequent correspondence ; if that custom is 
in its own nature indifferent, and much more, if it be a 
wise and useful one, it ought to be obligatory on all those 
nations ivho are considered as having given their consent 
to it. And tliey are bound to observe it, loith respect to 
each other, Avhile they have not expressly declared that they 
will not adhere to it. But if that custom contains any thing 
unjust or illegal, it is of no force ; and every nation is under 
an obligation to abandon it, nothing being able to oblige or 
permit a nation to violate a natural law. 

" ' These three kinds of the laAv of nations, voluntary, con- 
ventional, and customary, together, compose the positive 
law of nations. For they all proceed from the volition of 
nations ; the voluntary laiv, from their presumed consent : 
the conventional law, from an express consent ; and the 
customary law, from a tacit consent : and as there can be 
no other manner of deducing any law from the will of na- 
tions, there are only these three kinds of the positive law of 
nations.^ 

" This excellent author, after having stated tne voluntary 
law of nations to be the result of the equality of nations, and 
the conventional law to be particular compacts or treaties, 



348 VV I R, T ' S L I F E O F 

binding only on the co7itracting parties, declares, that the 
customary lato of nations is only binding to those nations 
that have adopted it ; that it is a particular and not a 
universal law ; that it applies only to distinct nations. The 
case of Alexander and the Thebans is founded on the general 
law of nations, applicable to nations at war. It is enough 
for me then, to show that America, being at war, was entitled 
to the privilege of national law. But, says Vattel, the present 
state of European refinement controls the general law (of 
which he had been before speaking). We know that the 
customary law of nations can only bind those who are par- 
ties to the custom. In the year 1776, when America an- 
nounced her will to be free, or in the year 1777, when the 
law concerning British debts passed, was there a customary 
law of America to this effect ? Or were the customary laws 
of Europe binding on America 1 Were xoe a party to 
any such customary law ? Was there any thing in our 
constitution or laws which tied up our hands ? No, sir. To 
make this customary law obligatory, the assent of all the 
parties to be hound by it is necessary. There must be an 
interchange of it. It is not for one nation or community 
to say to another, you are bound by this law, because otir 
kingdom approves of it. It must not only be reciprocal in 
its advantages and principles, but it must have been recipro- 
cal in its exercise. Virginia could not, therefore, be bound 
by it. Let us see whether it could be a hard case on the 
British creditors, that this customary law of nations did not 
apply in their favour. Were these debts contracted from a 
persuasion of its observance 1 Did the creditors trust to 
this customary law of nations ? No, sir. They trusted 
to what they thought as firm, the statute and common law 
of England. Victorious and successful as their nation had 



PATRICK HENRY. 349 

lately been, when they, in their pride and inconsiderate self- 
confidence, stretched out the hand of oppression, their sub- 
jects placed no reliance on the customs of particular na- 
tions. They put confidence in those barriers of right, which 
were derived from their own nation. Their reliance was, 
that the tribunals established in this country, under the 
same royal authority as in England, would do them justice. 
If we were not willing, they possessed the power of compel- 
ling us to do them justice. The debts having, therefore, not 
been contracted from any reliance on the customary laio 
of nations, were they contracted from a regard ' to the 
rights of commerce ?' From a view of promoting the 
commerce of those little things called colonies 1 This re- 
gard could not have been the ground they were contracted 
on, for their conduct evinced that they wished to take the 
right of commerce from us. What other ingredient re- 
mains to show the operation of this custom in their favour ? 
The book speaks of strangers trusting subjects of a different 
nation, from a reliance on the observance of the customary 
law. The fact here was, that fellow-subjects trusted us, on 
the footing just stated ; trusting to the existing compulsory 
process of law, not relying on a passive inert custom. A 
fearful, plodding, sagacious trader, w^ould not rely on so 
flimsy, so uncertain a dependance. Something similar to 
what he thought positive satisfaction, he relied on. Were 
we not subject to the same king ? The cases are then at 
variance. He states the custom to exist for the advantage 
of commerce, and that a departure from it would injure the 
public faith. Public faith is in this case out of the question. 
The public faith was not pledged — it could not therefore be 
injured. I have already read to your honours from the 11th 
page of the preliminary discourse of Vattel, ' that the cus~ 

30 



350 WIRT S LIFE OF 

toniary law of nations is only binding on those who have 
adopted it, and that it is not universal, any more than 
conventional laws!' It is evident we could not be bound 
by any convention or treaty to which we ourselves were not 
a party : and from this authority it is equally obvious, that 
we could not be bound by any customary law to which we 
were not parties. 

" I think, therefore, with great submission to the court, that 
the right for which I contended, that is, that in common 
wars between independent nations, either of the contending 
parties has a right to confiscate or remit debts due by its 
people to the enemy, is not shaken by the customary law of 
nations, as far as it regards us, because the custom could not 
affect us. Bat gentlemen say we were not completely inde- 
pendent till the year 1783 ! To take them on their own 
ground, their arguments will fail them. There is a custom- 
ary law which will operate pretty strongly on our side of 
the question. What were the inducements of the debtor ? 
On what did the American debtor rely ? Sir, he relied for 
protection on that system of common and statute law on 
which the creditors depended. Was he deceived in that re- 
liance ? That he was most miserably deceived, I believe will 
not admit of a doubt. The customary law of nations will 
only apply to distinct nations, mutually consenting thereto. 
When tyranny attempted to rivet her chains upon us, and 
we boldly broke them asunder, we were remitted to that 
amplitude of freedom which the beneficent hand of Nature 
gave us. We were not bound by fetters which are of benefit 
to one party, while they are destructive to the other. Would 
it be proper that we should be bound, and they unrestrained ?" 
As a still farther answer to the objection, and as giving the 
only rule of restraint in operating on the property of a belli- 



PATRICK HENRY. 351 

gerant, he cites the following principle from Vattel, and ap- 
plies it to the actual state of America : " Vattel, book the 3d, 
ch. 8, sect. 137, says, that ' the lawful end gives a true right 
only to those means which are necessary for obtaining 
such end. Whatever exceeds this, is censured by the laws 
of nature as faulty, and Mall be condemned at the tribunal 
of conscience. Hence it is, that the right to such or such 
acts of hostility varies according to their circumstances. What 
is just and perfectly innocent in a war, in one particular situ- 
ation, is not always so in another. Right goes hand in 
hand luith necessity, and the exigency of the case ; but never 
exceeds it.' This, sir, is the first dictate of nature, and the 
practice of nations ; and if your misfortunes and distresses 
should be sad and dreadful, you are let loose from those 
common restraints which may be proper on common occa- 
sions, in order to preserve the great rights of human nature. 
" This is laid down by that great writer in clear and une- 
quivocal terms. If then, sir, it be certain, from a recurrence 
to facts, that it was necessary for America to seize on British 
property, this book warrants the legislature of this state in 
passing those confiscating and prohibitory laws. I need only 
refer to your recollection, for oiu- pressing situation during 
the late contest ; and happy am I, that this all-important 
question comes on, before the heads of those who, were actors 
in the great scene, are laid in the dust. An uninformed pos- 
terity would be unacquainted with the awful necessity which 
impelled us on. If the means were within reach, we were 
warranted by the laws of nature and nations to use them. 
The fact was, that we were attacked by one of the most formi- 
dable nations under heaven ; a nation that carried terror and 
dread with its thunder to both hemispheres." — [This illustra- 
tion of the power of Great Britain was, if we may trust 



352 WIRT S LIFE OF 

respectable tradition, much more expanded than we find it in 
the report ; and such was the force of his imagination, and 
the irresistible energy of his delivery and action, that the 
audience now felt themselves instinctively recoiling from the 
tremendous power of that very nation, which but a short time 
before had been exhibited as a mere dot in the Atlantic, a 
point so microscopic as to be scarcely visible to the naked 
eye : he proceeds to close the first member of his first point 
thus :] — " Our united property enabled us to look in the face 
that mighty people. Dared we to have gone in opposition 
to them bound hand and foot ? Would we have dared to 
resist them fettered? for we should have been fettered, if 
we had been deprived of so considerable a part of our little 
stock of national resources. In that most critical and dan- 
gerous emergency, our all was but a little thing. Had we a 
treasury — an exchequer ? Had we commerce ? Had we 
any revenue ? Had we any thing from which a nation 
could draw wealth ? No, sir. Our credit became the scorn 
of our foes. However, the efforts of certain patriotic charac- 
ters (there were not a few of them, thank Heaven) gave us 
credit among our own people. But we had not a farthing to 
spare. We were obliged to go on a most grievous antici- 
pation, the weight of which we feel at this day. Recur to 
our actual situation, and the means we had of defending 
ourselves. The actual situation of America is described here, 
where this author says, ' that right goes hand in hand 
with necessity.^ The necessity being great and dreadful, 
you are warranted to lay hold of every atom of money within 
your reach, especially if it be the money of yom' enemies. 
It is prudent and necessary to strengthen yourselves and 
weaken your enemies. Vattel, book 3d, ch. 8, sect. 138, 
says, ' The business of a just war being to suppress violence 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 353 

and injustice, it gives a right to compel, by force, him who 
is deaf to tlie voice of justice. It gives a right of doing 
against the enemy, whatever is necessary for weakening 
him — for disabhng him from making any farther resistance 
in support of his injustice — and the most effectual, the most 
proper methods may be chosen, provided they have nothing 
odious, be not unlawful in themselves, or exploded by the 
law of nature.' Here let me pause for a moment, and ask, 
whether it be odious in itself, or exploded by the law of na- 
ture, to seize those debts ? 

" No — because the money was taken from the very offend- 
ers. We fought for the great, unalienable, hereditary 
rights of human nature. An unwarrantable attack was 
made upon us. An attack, not only not congenial with 
motherly or parental tenderness, but incompatible with the 
principles of humanity or civilization. Our defence then 
was a necessary one. What says Vattel, book 3d, ch. 8, 
sect. 136 ? — ' The end of a just war is to revenge or prevent 
injury ; that is, to procure by force the justice which cannot 
otherwise be obtained ; to compel an unjust person to repair an 
injury already done, or to give seciurities against any wrong 
threatened by him. On a declaration of war, therefore, this 
nation has a right of doing against the enemy whatever is 
necessary to this justifiable end of bringing him to reason, and 
obtaining justice and security from him.' We have taken 
nothing in this necessary defence, but from the very offend- 
ers — those who unjustly attacked us : for we had a right of 
considering every individual of the British nation as an ene- 
my. This I prove by the same great wTiter, p. 519, sect. 
139, of the same book: — ' An enemy attacking me unjustly 
gives an undoubted right of repelling his violences ; and he 
who opposes me in arms, when I demand only my right, 
2 Y 30* 



354 WIRTSLIFEOF 

becomes himself the real aggressor, by his unjust resistance. 
He is the first author of the violence, and obliges me to make 
use of force, for securing myself against the wrongs intended 
me either in my person or possessions ; for if the effects of 
this force proceed so far as to take away his life, he owes the 
misfortune to himself; for, if by sparing him, I should sub- 
mit to the injury, the good would soon become the prey of the 
wicked. Hence the right of killing enemies in a just war 
is derived; when their resistance cannot be suppressed — 
when they are not to be reduced by milder methods, there is 
a right of taking away their life. Under the name of ene- 
mies, as we have already shown, are comprehended not only 
the first author of the war, but likewise all who join him, 
and fight for his cause? Thus I think the first part of my 
position confirmed and unshaken ; that in common wars, a 
nation not restrained by the customary law of nations, has a 
right to confiscate debts." 

In the second member of that point, he is released 
from the servility of quotation ; and, to borrow a phrase of 
his own, " remitted to the amplitude" of his natural genius : 
the reader will therefore be amused by a more copious ex- 
tract : — "From this I will go on to the other branch of my 
position : that if, in common wars, debts be liable to for- 
feiture, a fortiori, must they be so in a revolution war. Let 
me contrast the late war with wars in common. According 
to those people called kings, wars in common are system.atic 
and produced for trifles ; for not conforming to imaginary 
honours ; because you have not lowered your flag before 
him at sea ; or for a supposed affront to the person of an 
ambassador. Nations are set by the ears, and the most 
hon-id devastations are brought on mankind, for the most 



PATRICK HENRY. 355 

frivolous causes. If then, when small matters are in con- 
test, debts be forfeitable, what must have accrued to us, as 
engaged in the late revolution war — a war commenced in 
attainder, perfidy, and confiscation? If we take with us 
this great principle of Vattel, that right goes in hand with 
necessity, and consider the peculiar situation of the Am.erican 
people, we will find reason more than sufl&cient to give us a 
right of confiscating those debts. 

" The most striking peculiarity attended the American war. 
In the first of it, we were stripped of every municipal right. 
Rights and obligations are correspondent, co-extensive, and 
inseparable — they must exist together, or not at all. We 
were, therefore, when stripped of all our municipal rights, 
clear of every municipal obligation, burden, and onerous en- 
gagement. If then the obligation be gone, what is become of 
the correspondent right ? They are mutually gone." — These 
little words, " they are mutually gone," which would have 
made no figure in the pronunciation of an ordinary speaker, 
are said to have formed a beautiful picture, as delivered by 
Mr. Henry : his eyes seemed to have pursued these associated 
objects to the extremest verge of mortal sight, while the fall 
of his voice, and correspondent fall of his extended hand, 
with the palm downward, depicted the idea of evanescence 
with indescribable force : the audience might imagine, that 
they saw the objects at the very instant when they vanished 
in the distance, and became commingled with the air : and 
all this, too, without any affected pause to give it effect ; with- 
out any apparent effort on his part ; but with all the quick- 
ness of thought and all the ease of nature. — " The case of 
sovereign and independent nations at war is far different ; 
because, there private right is respected, and domestic asylum 



356 WIRTS LIFE OF 

held sacred. Was it tlie case in our war ? No, sir. Dag- 
gers were planted in your chambers, and mischief, death, 
and destruction, might meet you at your fireside. 

' There is an essential variance between the late war and 
common wars. In common wars, children are not obliged 
to fight against their fathers, nor brothers against brothers, 
nor kindred against kindred. Our men were compelled, 
contrary to the most sacred ties of humanity, to shed the 
blood of their dearest connexions. In common wars, con- 
tending parties respect municipal rights, and leave even to 
those they invade, the means of paying debts, and complying 
with obligations ; they touch not private property. For ex- 
ample, when a British army lands in France, they plunder 
nothing : they pay for what they have, and respect the tribu- 
nals of justice, unless they have a mind to be called a savage 
nation. Were we thus treated ? Were we permitted to exer- 
cise industry and to collect debts, by which we might be ena- 
bled to pay British creditors ? Had we a power to pursue com- 
merce ? No, sir. What became of our agriculture ? Our 
inhabitants were mercilessly and brutally plundered, and our 
enemies professed to maintain their army by those means 
only. Our slaves carried away, our crops burnt, a cruel 
war carried on against our agriculture — disability to pay 
debts produced by pillage and devastation, contrary to every 
principle of national law. From that series of plenty in 
which we had been accustomed to live and to revel, we 
were plunged into every species of human calamity. Our 
lives attacked — charge of rebels fixed upon us — confiscation 
and attainder denounced against the whole continent ; and 
he that was called king of England sat judge upon our case — 
he pronounced his judgment, not like those to whom poetic 
fancy has given existence — not like him who sits in the in* 



PATRICK HENRY. 357 

fernal regions, and dooms to the Stygian lake those spirits 
who deserve it, because he spares the innocent, and sends 
some to the fields of Elysium — not like him who sat in an- 
cient imperial Rome, and wished the people had but one 
neck, that he might at one blow strike off their heads, and 
spare himself the trouble of carnage and massacre, because 
one city would have satisfied his vengeance — not like any 
of his fellow-men, for nothing would satiate his sanguinary 
ferocity, but the indiscriminate destruction of a whole con- 
tinent — involving the innocent with the guilty. Yes, he 
sat in judgment with his coadjutors, and pronounced pro- 
scription, attainder, and forfeiture, against men, women, and 
even children at the breast. Is not this description pointedly 
true in all its parts ? And who were his coadjutors and 
executioners in this strange court of judicature ? Like the 
fiends of poetic imagination — Hessians, Indians, and A"e- 
groes, were his coadjutors and executioners. Is there any 
thing in this sad detail of offences which is unfounded ? any 
thing not enforced by the act of parliament against America ? 
We were thereby driven out of their protection, and branded 
by the epithet rebels. The term rebel may not now appear 
in all its train of horrid consequences. We know that when 
a person is called rebel by that government, his goods and 
life are forfeited, and his very blood pronounced to be cor- 
rupted, and the severity of the punishment entailed on his 
posterity. To whom may we apply for the verity of this ? 
The jiurisprudence and history of that nation prove, that, 
when they speak of rebels, nothing but blood will satisfy 
them. Is there nothing hideous in this part of the portrait? 
It is unparalleled in the annals of mankind. Though I have 
respect for individuals of that nation, my duty constrains me 
to speak thus. 



358 W I R T S L I F E F 

" When we contemplate this mode of warfare, and the sen- 
timents of the writers on natural law on this subject, we are 
justified in saying, that in this revolution war, we had a 
right to consider British debts as subject to confiscation — and 
to seize the property of those who originated that war. As 
to the injuries done to agriculture, they appear in a diminu- 
tive view, when compared to the injuries and indignities of- 
fered to persons, and mansions of abode. Sir, from your seat 
you might have seen instances of the most grievous hostility: 
not only private property wantonly pillaged, but men, 
women, and children, dragged publicly from their habitations, 
and indiscriminately devoted to destruction. The rights 
of humanity were sacrificed. We were then deprived not 
only of the benefits of municipal, but natural law. If there 
shall grow out of these considerations a palpable disability to 
pay those debts, I ask if the claim be just ? For that disa- 
bility was produced by those excesses — by those very men 
who come on us now for payment. Here give me leave to 
say, that they sold us a bad title in whatever they sold us — 
in real as well as in personal property. Describe the nature 
of a debt : it is an engagement or promise to pay — but it 
must be for a valuable consideration. If this be clear, was 
not the title, to whatever property they sold us, bad in every 
sense of the word, when the war followed ? What can add 
value to property? Force. Notwithstanding the equity and 
fairness of the debt when incurred, if the security of the 
property received was afterward destroyed, the title has 
proved defective. Suppose millions were contracted for and 
received, those millions give you no advantage, without force 
to protect them. This necessary protection is withdrawn by 
the very men who were bound to aff'ord it, and who now 
demand payment. Neither lands, slaves, nor other property, 



PATRICK HENRY. 359 

are worth a shilling, without protecting force. This title was 
destroyed, when the act of parliament, putting us out of 
their protection, passed against America. I say, sir, the 
title was destroyed by the very offenders who come here now 
and demand payment. Justice and equity cancel the obliga- 
tion as to the price that was to be given for it, because the 
tenure is destroyed, and the effects purchased have no value. 
Such a claim is unsupported by the plainest notions of right 
and wrong. For this long catalogue of offences committed 
against the citizens of America, every individual of the Brit- 
ish nation is accountable. How are you to be compensated 
for those depredations on persons and property ? Are you 
to go to the kingdom of England, to find the very individual 
who did you the outrage, and demand satisfaction of him ? 
To tell you of such a remedy as this, is adding insult to 
injury. Every individual is chargeable with national of 
fences." 

To maintain this last position, he cites an authority ex- 
pressly in point, from Vattel, and proceeds thus : — " These 
observations of Vattel amount to this : that a king or con- 
ductor of a nation is considered as a moral person, by means 
of whom the nation acquires or loses its rights, and subjects 
itself to penalties. The individuals, and the nation which 
they compose, are one. I will therefore take it for granted, 
that whatever violences and excesses were committed on 
this continent are chargeable to the plaintiff in this very 
action. Recollect our distressed situation. We had no ex- 
chequer, no finances, no army, no navy, no common means 
of defence. Our necessity — dire necessity compelled us to 
throw aside those rules which respect private property, and 
to make impresses on our own citizens to support the war. 



360 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Right and necessity being co-extensive, we were compelled 
to exert a right the most eminent over the whole community 
The solus populi demanded what we did. If we had a 
right to disregard the legal fences thrown round the property 
of our citizens, had we not a greater right to take British 
property ? 

" Another peculiarity contributes to aid our defence. The 
want of an exchequer obliged us to emit paper money, 
and compel our citizens to receive it for gold. In the ears 
of some men this sounds harshly- But they are young men, 
who do not know and feel the irresistible necessity that 
urged us. Would your armies have been raised, clothed, 
maintained, or kept together without paper money ? With- 
out it, the war would have stood still, resistance to tyranny 
would have stopped, and despotism, with all its horrid train 
of appurtenances, must have depressed your country. We 
compelled the people to receive it in payment of all debts — 
we induced and invited them (if we did not compel them) to 
put it into the treasury, as a complete discharge from their 
debts. Sir, I trust I shall not live to see the day, when the 
pviblic councils of America, will give ground to say that this 
was a state trick, contrived to delude and defraud the citi- 
zens. What must it be ostensibly, when, by the compact of 
your nation, they had publicly bound and pledged themselves, 
that it was and should be money, if afterward, in the course 
of human events, when temptations present themselves, they 
shall declare that it is not money ? Sir, the honest planter 
is unskilled in political tricks and deceptions. His interest 
ought never to be sacrificed. The law is his guide. The 
law compelled him to receive it, and his countrymen would 
have branded him with the name of enemy if he had refused 
it. The laws of the country are as sacred as the imaginary 



PATRICK HENRY. 3G1 

sanctity of British debts. Sir, national engagements ought 
to be held sacred ; the public violation of this solemn engage- 
ment will destroy all confidence in the government. If you 
depart from the national compact one iota, you give a danger- 
ous precedent, which may imperceptibly and gradually intro- 
duce the most destructive encroachment on human rights." 

He then proceeds to notice more directly the objection, that 
we were not a people competent for legislation till the assent 
of the British king was given to our independence : — " I will 
beg leave here to dissent from the position of the gentleman 
on the other side, which denied that we were a people, till 
our enemies were pleased to say we were so. That we were 
a people, and had a right to do every thing which a great 
and a royal — nay, an imperial people could do, is clear and 
indisputable. Though under the humble appearance of re- 
publicanism, oiu- government and national existence, when 
examined, are as solid as a rock — not resting on the mere 
fraud and oppression of rulers, nor the credulity, nor barba- 
rous ignorance of the people ; but founded on the consent 
and conviction of enlightened human nature. That we had 
every right that completely independent nations can have, 
will be satisfactorily proved to your honours, by again refer- 
ring to Vattel." He then cites and reads a passage from 
Vattel, the effect of which is, that during a civil war, the 
parties, acknowledging no common judge on earth, are to be 
considered as two distinct people ; and to govern themselves 
in the conduct of the war by the general laws of nations. 
After which he proceeds thus : — 

> " Here then, sir, is proof abundant, that before the acknow- 
ledgment of American independence by Great Britain, 
2 Z :u 



362 WIRT S LIFE OF 

we had a right to be considered as a nation; because, on 
earth we had no common superior, to give a decision of the 
dispute between us and our sovereign. After declaring our- 
selves a sovereign people, we had every right a nation can 
claim as an independent community. But the gentlemen on 
the other side greatly rely upon this principle, that a contract 
cannot be dissolved without the consent of all the contract- 
ing parties : tlie inference is, that the consent of the king of 
Great Britain was necessary to the dissolution of the govern- 
ment. Tyranny has too often, and too successfully riveted 
its chains, to warrant a belief, that a tyrant will ever volun- 
tarily release his subjects from the governmental compact. 
Rather might it be expected, that the last iota of human mis- 
ery would be borne, and the oppression would descend from 
father to son, to the latest period of earthly existence. The 
despotism of our sovereign ought to be considered as an im- 
plied consent, on his part, to dissolve the compact between 
us ; and he and his subjects must be considered as one — 
there can be no distinction. For, in any other view, his 
consent could not have been obtained without force. There 
is such a thing, indeed, as tyranny from free choice. Sweden 
not long ago surrendered its liberties in one day, as Den- 
mark had done formerly ; so that this branch of the human 
family is cut off from every possible enjoyment of human 
rights. But the right to resist oppression is not denied. 
The gentlemen's doctrine cannot therefore apply to national 
communities. If any additional force was wanting to con- 
firm what I advance, it would be derived from the treaty of 
peace, which further proves, that we were entitled to all the 
privileges of independent nations. The consent of all the 
people of Europe said we were free. Our former master 
withheld his consent till a few itnh/chy events compelled 



PATRICK HENRY. 363 

him. And when he gave his Jiat, it gave us, by relation 
hack to the time of the declaration of independence, all 
the rights and privileges of a completely sovereign nation : 
our independence was acknowledged by him, previous to tlie 
completion of the treaty of peace. It was not a condition 
of the treaty, but was acknowledged, by his own overture, 
preparatory to it. View the consequences of their fatal doc- 
trine. There would not only have been long arrears of 
debts to pay, but a long catalogue of crimes to be punished. 
If the ultimate acknowledgment of our independence by 
Great Britain had not relation back to the time of the decla- 
ration of independence, all the intermediate acts of legisla- 
tion would be void — and every decision and act, consequent 
thereon, would be null. But, sir, we were a complete nation 
on every principle, according to the authorities I have already 
read ; in addition to which I will refer your honours to Vat- 
tel, book iv. ch. vii. sect. 88, to show we were entitled to the 
benefits of national law, and to use all the resources of the 
community : ' From the equality of all nations really sove- 
reign and independent, it is a principle of the voluntary law 
of nations, that no nation can control another in its internal 
municipal legislation.' If we consider the business of confis- 
cation according to the immemorial usages of Great Britain, 
we will find, that the law and practice of that country sup- 
port my position. In the wars which respect revolutions 
which have taken place in that island — life, fortune, goods, 
debts, and every thing else were confiscated. The crimen 
IcBscB majestatis, as it is called, involved every thing. Every 
possible punishment has been inflicted on suffering humanity 
that it could endure, by the party which had the superiority 
m those wars, over the defeated party, which was charged 
with rebellion. 



364 WIPvT's life OF 

" What would have been the consequences, sir, if we had 
been conquered ? Were we not fighting against that ma- 
jesty ? Would the justice of our opposition have been con- 
sidered ? The most horrid forfeitures, confiscations, and 
attainders, would have been pronounced against us. Con- 
sider their history, from the time of William the First till tins 
day. Were not his Normans gratified with the confiscation 
of the richest estates in England ? Read the excessive cru- 
elties, attainders, and confiscations, of that reign. England 
depopulated — its inhabitants stripped of the dearest privileges 
of humanity — degraded with the most ignominious badges of 
bondage — and totally deprived of the power of resistance to 
usurpation and tyranny. This inability continued to the 
time of Henry the Eighth. In his reign, the business of 
confiscation and attainder, made considerable havoc. After 
his reign, some stop was put to theit effusion of blood which 
preceded and happened under it. Recollect the sad and 
lamentable effects of the York and Lancastrian wars. Re- 
member the rancorous hatred and inveterate detestations of 
contending factions — the distinction of the white and red 
roses. To come a little lower — what happened in that island 
in the rebelhons of 1715 and 1745? If we had been con- 
quered, would not our men have shared the fate of the 
people of Ireland ? A great part of that island was confis- 
cated, though the Irish people thought themselves engaged 
in a laudable cause. What confiscation and punishments 
were inflicted in Scotland ? The plains of Culloden, and 
the neighbouring gibbets, would show you. I thank Heaven 
that the spirit of liberty, under the protection of the Almighty, 
saved us from experiencing so hard a destiny. But had we 
been subdued, would not every right have been wrested 
from us ? What right would have been saved ? Would 



PATUICK HENRY. 365 

debts have been saved ? Would it not be absurd, to save 
debts, while they should burn, hang, and destroy ? Before 
we can decide Avith precision, we are to consider the dan- 
gers we should have been exposed to had we been subdued. 
After presenting to your view this true picture of what 
would have been our situation, had we been subjugated — 
surely a correspondent right will be found, growing out of 
the law of nations, in our favour. Had our subjugation 
been effected, and we pleaded for pardon — represented that 
we defended the most valuable rights of human nature, and 
thought they were wrong — would our petition have availed ? 
I feel myself impelled, from what has passed, to ask this 
question. I would not wish to have lived to see the sad scenes 
VvC should have experienced. Needy avarice, and savage 
cruelty, would have had full scope. Hungry Germans, 
blood-thirsty Indians^ and nations of another colour, would 
have been let loose upon us. The sad effects of such war- 
fare have had their full influence on a number of our fellow- 
citizens. Sir, if you had seen the sad scenes which I have 
known ; if you had seen the simple but tranquil felicity of 
helpless and unoffending women and children, in little log- 
huts on the frontiers, disturbed and destroyed by the sad 
effects of British warfare and Indian butchery, your soul 
ivould have been struck ivith horror ! Even those helpless 
women and children were the objects of the most shocking 
barbarity, 

" Give me leave again to recvir to Vattel, p. 9 : — ' Nations 
being free, independent, and equal, and having a right to 
judge according to the dictates of conscience, of what is to be 
done in order to fulfil its duties ; the effect of all this is, the 
producing, at least externally and among men, a perfect 
equality of rights between nations, in the administration of 

31* 



366 WIRT S LIFE OF 

their affairs, and the pursuit of their pretensions, without re 
gard to the intrinsic justice of their conduct, of which others 
have no right to form a definitive judgment : so that what is 
permitted in one, is also permitted in the other; and they 
ought to be considered in human society as having an equal 
right.' If it be allowed to the British nation to put to death, 
to forfeit and confiscate debts and every thing else, may we 
not (having an equal right) confiscate — not life, for we never 
desire it — but that which is the common object of confisca 
tion — 'property, goods, and debts, which strengthen ourselves 
and weaken our enemies ? I trust that this short recapitula- 
tion of events shows, that if there ever was in the history of 
man a case requiring the full use of all human means, it was 
our case in the late contest ; and we were therefore warranted 
to confiscate the British debts." 

He now takes another ground to establish the confiscation, 
I shall give his whole argument on this point in his own 
words : — 

" I beer leave to add that these debts are lost on another 

o 

principle. By the dissolution of the British government, 
America went into a state of nature — on the dissolution of 
that of which we had been members, there being no govern- 
ment antecedent, we went necessarily into a state of nature. 
To prove this, I need only refer to the declaration of inde- 
pendence, pronounced on the fourth day of July, 1776, and 
our state constitution." — Here Mr. Henry read part of the 
constitution. — " It recites many instances of misrule by the 
king of England — it asserts the right and expediency of dis- 
solving the British government, and going into a state of 
nature ; or, in other words, to establish a new government. 



PATRICK HENRY. 367 

The right of dissolving it, and forming a new system, had 
preceded the fourth day of July, 1776. A recapitulation of 
the events of the tyrannical acts of government, would demon- 
strate a right to dissolve it. But I may go farther, and even 
say, that the act of parliament which declared us out of the 
king's protection, dissolved it. For what is goverrmient ? 
It is an express or implied compact between the rulers and 
ruled, stipulating reciprocal protection and obedience. That 
protection was withdrawn, solemnly withdrawn from us. Of 
consequence, obedience ceased to be due. Our municipal 
rights were taken away by one blow. Municipal obligations 
and government were also taken away by the same blow. 
Well, then, there being no antecedent government, we re- 
turned into a state of nature. Unless we did so, our new 
compact of government could only be a usurpation. In a 
state of nature there is no legal lie7i in the person or property 
of any one. If you are not clear of every antecedent en- 
gagement, what is the legality or strength of the present 
constitution of government ? If any antecedent engage- 
ments are to bind, how far are they to reach ? You had no 
right to form a new government, if the old system existed ; 
and if it did not exist, you were necessarily and inevitably 
in a state of nature. In my humble opinion, by giving va- 
lidity to such claims, you destroy the very idea of the right 
to form a new government. Vattel calls government the 
totality of persons, estates, and effects, formed by every indi- 
vidual of the new society, and that totality represented by 
the governing power. How can the totality exist while an 
antecedent right exists elsewhere ? See Grotius, p. 4, which 
I have already read, and note 29 : because the design and 
good of civil society necessarily require, that the natural and 
acquired rights of each member should admit of limitations 



368 WIRT S LIFE OF 

several ways, and to a certain degree, by the authority of 
him or them, in whose hands the sovereign authority is 
lodged. When we formed a new government, did there 
exist any authority that limited our rights ? How can the 
totality exist, if any other person or persons have an existing 
claim upon you ? It appears to me, that that equality which 
is involved in a state of nature cannot exist while such claim 
exists. The court will recollect what I have already read 
out of Vattel, in the sections 15 and 18. The equality here 
ascribed to independent nations is equally ascribed to men 
in a state of nature. A moral society of persons cannot exist 
without this absolute equality. The existence of individuals 
in a state of nature, depends in like manner upon, and is 
inseparable from such equality. 

" Rights, as before-mentioned, Vattel, pp. 8 and 9, are 
divided into internal and external: of external rights, he 
makes the distinction of perfect and imperfect. I beseech 
your honours to fix this distinction in your minds. The 
perfect external right only is accompanied with the right of 
constraint. The imperfect right loses that quality, and 
leaves it to the party to comply or not to comply with it. 
When the former government was dissolved, the American 
people became indebted to nobody. You either owe every 
thing or nothing-^-and every contract and engagement must 
be done away, if any. In a state of nature you are free and 
equal. But how are you free, if another have a lien on your 
body ? Where is your freedom, or your equality with that 
person, who has the right of constraining you ? This right 
of constraint implies a complete authority over you, but not 
however to enslave you. This constraint is always adequate 
to the right or obligation. Where can you find the possibility 
of this equality which nature gives her sons, if we admit an 



PATRICK HENRY. 369 

existing right of constraint? If it be a fact, that on the 
dissolution of the government we did enter into a state of 
nature, (and that we did, I humbly judge, cannot be denied, 
as at that time no government existed at all,) it destroys all 
claim to one farthing. This will be found to be true, as 
well upon the ground of equity and good conscience as in 
law, when it is considered, that when we went into a state 
of nature, the means of paying debts were taken away from 
us by them ; because, so far as they had power over us, they 
prevented us from getting money to pay debts. They inter- 
dicted us from the pursuit of profitable commerce ; from 
getting gold and silver, the only things they would take — 
they unjustly drove us to this extremity. By the conces- 
sion of the worthy gentlemen, their attack upon us was 
unjust. 

" But then, debts are not subject to confiscation, say gen- 
tlemen, because there were no inquests, no office found for 
the commonwealth. Has a debt an ear-mark ? Is it tangible 
or visible ? Has it any discriminating quality ? Unless tan- 
gible or visible, how is it to be ascertained or distinguished ? 
What does an inquest mean ? A solemn inquiry by a 
jury, by ocular examination, with other proofs. If an in- 
quest of office were to be had of land, a jury could tell the 
lines and boundaries of it, because they may be distinguished 
from others, and its identity may thereby be ascertained. If 
a horse be the object of inquiry, he can be easily distinguished 
from any other horse. In like manner every other article 
of visible property may be subject to inquests ; but such a 
thing as an inquest of a debt never existed, as far as my 
legal knowledge extends. What are to be the consequences, 
if this proceeding be requisite ? You must set up a court of 
inquisition, summon the whole nation, and ask every man 
3 A 



370 WIRT S LIFE OF 

how much do you oive ? This would be productive of end- 
less confusion, perplexity and expense, without the desired 
effect. The laws of war and of nations require no more 
than tliat the sovereign power should openly signify its will, 
that tlie debts be forfeited. There is no particular forensic 
form necessary. The question here is not, whether this con- 
fiscation be traversed in all the forms of municipal regula- 
tions. There is a question between Great Britain and Amer- 
ica similar to that between Alexander and the Thebans. 
Has the sovereign signified his pleasure that debts be 
remitted? A sign is completely sufficient, if it be under- 
stood by the people. There is a necessity of thus speaking 
the legislative will, that the other party may know it, and 
retaliate ; for what is allowed to one, is to both parties. 
This was different from the nature of a solemn war. War 
is lawful or unlawful, according to the manner of conducting 
it. In the prosecution of a lawful solemn war, it is neces- 
sary that you do not depart from certain rules of modera- 
tion, honour, and humanity, but act according to the usual 
practice of belligerant powers. Did the mother-country con- 
duct the war against us in this manner ? We did openly 
say, we mean to confiscate your debts, and modify them, be- 
cause they have lost their perfect external quality — they are 
imperfect — we claim that right, as a sovereign people, over 
that species of your property. Sir, it was not done in a cor- 
ner. It was understood by our enemies. They had a right 
to retaliate on any species of our property they could find. 
The right of retaliation, or just retortion, for equivalent 
damage on any part of an enemy's property, is permitted to 
every nation. What right has the British nation (for if the 
nation have not the right, lione of its people have) to demand 
a breach of faith in the American government to its citizens? 



PATRICK HENRY. 371 

I have already mentioned the engagement of the govern- 
ment with its citizens respecting the paper-money — If you 
take it, it shall he money. Sliall it be judged now not to 
be money ? Shall this compact be broken for the sake of 
the British nation ? No, sir, the language of national law is 
otherwise. Sir, the laws of confiscation and paper-money 
made together one system, connected and sanctioned by the 
legislature, on which depended once the fate of our country, 
and on which depend now the happiness, the ease, and com- 
fort of thousands of your fellow-citizens. Will it not be a 
breach of the compact with your people, to say that the 
money is not to keep up its original standard in the quality 
given it by law ? What were the effects of this system ? 
What would have been the effects, had your citizens been 
apprized that British debts must be paid ? Would they have 
taken the money ? Would they have deposited the money 
in the loan-office, if they had been warned by law, that they 
must deposite it, subject to the future regulations of peace ; 
that it should not release them from the creditors ? However 
right it may appear now to decry the paper-money, it would 
have been fatal then ; for America might have perished, 
witliout the aid and effect of that medium. Your citizens, 
trusting to this compact, submitted to a number of things 
almost intolerable — impressments and violences on their 
property — it encouraged them to exert themselves in defence 
of their property against the enemy during the war. If the 
debt in the declaration mentioned be recovered, the compact 
is subverted, as respecting the paper-money. And this sub- 
version is to take effect for the interest of those men, whom, 
by all laws human and divine, we were obliged to consider as 
enemies ; men who were obliged to comply with the regula- 
tions and requisitions of their king ; and our people will have 



372 WIRT S LIFE OF 

been labouring, not for themselves, but for the benefit of the 
British subject. 

" When a vessel is in danger in a storm, those who abide 
on board of her, and encounter the dangers of the sea to 
save her, are allowed some little compensation for salvage, 
for their fidelity and gallantry in endeavouring to prevent 
her loss ; while those who abandon her are entitled to 
nothing. But, in opposition to this wise and politic principle, 
we, who have withstood the storms and dangers, receive no 
compensation ; but those who left the political ship, and 
joined those on the other side of the water who wished to 
sink her, and who caused her to fight eight long years for 
her preservation, shall come in at last, and get their full 
share of this vessel, and yet will have been exonerated from 
every charge. For whom, then, were the people of America 
engaged in war ? Not for themselves, I am sure — the prop- 
erty that they saved will not be for themselves, but for those 
whom they had a right to call enemies. I am not willing to 
ascribe to the meanest American the love of money, or 
desire of eluding the payment of his debts, as the motive of 
engaging in the war. No, sir. He had nobler and better 
views. But he thinks himself well entitled to those debts, 
from the laws and usages of nations, as a compensation for 
the injuries he has sustained. There is a sad drawback on 
this property saved. A national debt for seventeen years, 
considerable taxes, which were profusely laid during the 
war on lands and slaves ; and, since the peace, we have 
been loaded with a heavy taxation. I know that I advocate 
this cause on a very advantageous ground, when I speak of 
the right of salvage. The cargo on board the wrecked 
vessel belongs to the British, it will have been saved for 
them ! but the salvage is due to us only. If you take it on 



P A T R I C K II E N R Y . 373 

the ground of interest — you may hold as a pledge — you 
may retain for salvage. If you take it on the scale of the 
common law, or of national law — you may oppose dama- 
ges to debts — retain the debts, to retribute and compensate 
for the injuries they have done you. I have now got over 
and I trust established the first point ; that is, that debts in 
common wars are subject to forfeiture, and much more so in 
a revolution war like the American war."* 

Having established his first position, he presents his next 
point thus : — " My next point is, that the British debts being 
so forfeited (as I conceive) can only be revived by the treaty j 
and unless they be so revived, they are gone for ever. I 
will then consider how this matter stands under the treaty." 
He proceeds then to show by authority, the rules by which 
treaties are to be construed ; and demonstrates, that a treaty 
can confer no benefit unless it be mutually observed with 
good faith ; that perfidy, on either side, is a forfeiture of all 
its advantages ; that the stipulations of a treaty are in the 
nature of conditions precedent ; that a breach on either side 
dissolves the covenant altogether, and places the parties on 
the general ground which they occupied before the treaty ; 
that Great Britain had violated the treaty, in the mom.ent 
of its ratification, by carrying off our slaves, and detaining 
with an armed force those posts of which she had stipulated 
the immediate surrender ; that the pretence of her having 
acted thus as a retaliatory measure for the non-payment of 

* These copious extracts from the report on Mr. Henry's first point 
are deemed necessary to give the reader an idea of his mode of argu- 
mentation, so far as it can be furnished by this report. It would be 
trespassing on the indulgence of the proprietor of the manuscript, 
(which has never been published,) and trespassing too, perhaps, on the 
patience of that portion of my readers who can find no enjoyment in 
legal discussion, to pursue any farther this extended mode of analysis. 

32 



374 WIRT S LIFE OF 

the debts, was an insult to common understanding, because 
she began her infractions before any experiment had been 
made of a recovery of the debts ; that the notion of a reprisal, 
preceding any injury — and a retaliation, in advance, of any 
wrong on the opposite side, was so far from, mitigating her 
offence, that it was a daring insult on the honour and good 
faith of this nation ! Having, by a series of authorities di- 
rectly in point, established the right of the American nation 
to regard the treaty as abolished by any perfidious infraction 
of it, on the part of Great Britain, he shows next, that those 
infractions were established by the pleadings in the cause ; 
because the defendant by his several pleas had specified those 
infractions, and the plaintiff, by demurring to the pleas, had 
admitted the truth of their averments. 

Great Britain, then, as a nation, having by her own per- 
fidy forfeited all right to insist upon the treaty, and that 
treaty, as betiveen the nations, being annulled, the next 
question was, whether any individual of the British nation 
could claim any advantage under the treaty? This he 
shows could not be done, because in making the treaty, the 
sovereigns of the two nations acted for all the individuals of 
their respective nations ; the individuals were bound by all 
the acts of those sovereigns, whether in making or abolish- 
ing a treaty. "Here," said he, "are two moral persons. 
Great Britain and America, making a contract. The plain- 
tiff claims and the defendant defends under and through 
them ; and if either nation or moral person has no right to 
benefits from such contract, individuals claiming under 
them can have none. The plaintiff then claims under his 
nation, but if that nation have committed perfidy respecting 
the observance of the compact, no right can be carried there- 
from to the plaintiff. It puts him back in the same situation 



PATRICK HE NRY. 375 

he was in before the treaty." He shows the absurdity of 
considering the treaty as annulled, in relation to all the indi- 
viduals, in their collective character of a nation, and yet as 
in full force for the benefit of each individual separately ; 
for if this plaintiff had a right to all the beneficial effects of 
the treaty, every man in England had the same right ; and 
he cites and reads from Vattel, a conclusive authority, to 
show, that the conventional law of nations could take its 
effect only from universal right, extending equally to all the 
citizens or individuals of a nation. But to say, that America 
had a right to consider the treaty as void against all the indi- 
viduals of the British nation, collectively, while each and 
every individual of that nation separately, could enforce it 
upon her, was to offer to the understanding a paradoxical 
absiurdity, as insulting to common sense, as the conduct of 
Great Britain had been to the honour of the American nation. 
He contended further on this point, that if the treaty had 
been observed by Great Britain, and were of consequence still 
obligatory, it did not and could not operate where moneys 
had been actuall)'' paid into the treasury under the laws of 
the state ; for the provision of the treaty is, " that creditors 
on either side should meet with no lawful impediment to the 
recovery of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted." The 
defendant, he said, having paid the money into the treasury 
according to the act of assembly, and the truth of the pay- 
ment being admitted in the record, this article of the treaty 
could not support the plaintiff's claim. " To derive a benefit 
from the treaty, the plaintiff must demand a bona fide debt ; 
that is, a debt bona fide due. The word debt implies that 
the thing is due ; for if it be not due, how can it be a debt ? 
To give to these words, all debts heretofore contracted, a 
strictly literal sense, would be to authorize a renewed de- 



376 WIRT S LIFE OF 

mand for debts which had been actually paid off to the cred- 
itor ; for these were certainly within the words of the treaty? 
being debts heretofore contracted : — to avoid this absurd and 
dishonest consequence, you must look at the intention of the 
thing ; and the intention certainly was to embrace those 
cases where there had not been a legal payment. I ask," 
said he, " why a payment made in gold and silver is a legal 
imyment ? Because the coin of those metals is made cur- 
rent by the laws of this country. If paper be made current by 
the same authority, why should not a payment in it be equally 
valid ? The British subject cannot demand payment, be- 
cause I confront his demand with a receipt. Why will a 
receipt discharge in any instance ? — because it is founded on 
the laws of the country. A receipt given in consequence of 
a payment in coin, is a legal discharge, only because the 
laws of the country make it so. I ask then, why a receipt 
given in consequence of a payment into the treasury, be not 
of equal validity, since it has precisely the same foundation ? 
It is expressly constituted a discharge by a legislature 
having competent authority. This debt, therefore, having 
been legally paid by the contractor, was not due from him at 
the time of making the treaty, and therefore is not within the 
intention of that instrument. But, say the gentlemen on 
the other side, the one payment has the consent of the 
creditor, and the other has not : he who paid coin has the 
creditor's consent to the discharge, but he who paid money 
into the treasury wants it. Have we not satisfied this honour- 
able court, that the governing power had a right to put 
itself in the place of the British subjects ? Having had an 
unquestionable right to confiscate, sequester, or modify those 
debts as they pleased, they had an equally indubitable right 
to substitute themselves in the stead of the plaintiff, other- 



PATRICK HENRY. 377 

wise those authorities have been quoted in vain." He then 
cites authorities to prove, that the law of the place governs 
the contract ; and concludes, that the payment into the treas- 
ury having in this instance been made in consequence of a 
law of this commonwealth, which was strictly consonant 
with the laws of nations, and which had declared that such 
payment should operate as a complete and final dis- 
charge, this was not a subsisting debt, within the contem- 
plation of the treaty, and remained therefore, wholly unaf- 
fected by it. 

" The next question was, whether this court could take 
notice of this infraction of the treaty, on the part of Great 
Britain, and fovmd their judgment upon it. On this question, 
he observes that the court were not called upon to step out of 
their appropriate sphere, in order to invade the province of 
the jury by trying facts ; the facts were all agreed by the 
pleadings ; the court were merely called upon to say what 
was the law arising on those facts. 

" The existence or non-existence of the treaty, was a legal 
inference from the facts agreed ; which the court alone were 
competent to decide. The plaintiff himself had forced this 
question on the court, by relying in his replication on the 
treaty, as restoring his right to recover this debt. He sets up 
his right under this instrument expressly, and then questions 
the jurisdiction of the court to decide upon the instrument ! 
The treaty, quoad hoc, is the covenant of the parties in this 
suit : the question presented by the pleadings is, whether the 
plaintiff who, by that covenant, has taken upon himself the 
performance of a precedent condition, can claim any benefit 
under it, until he shall show that this precedent condition has 
been performed. On this question, said he, the gentleman's 
argument is, that the court have no power to decide on the 
3 B 32* 



378 WIRT S LIFE OF 

construction of the covenant, which he himself has brought 
before them ; that they have nothing to do with the depen- 
dance or independence of the stipulations, or the reciprocal 
rights of the parties, to claim under the covenant, without 
showing a previous performance on their respective parts ! 
He, on the contrary, insisted that, under the constitution of 
the United States, the question belonged, peculiarly and 
exclusively, to the judicial department ; that by the constitu- 
tion it was expressly provided, that the judicial power should 
extend to all cases arising under treaties ; that the law of 
treaties embraced the whole extent of natural and national 
law ; that the constitution therefore, by referring all cases 
arising under treaties to the judiciary, had of necessity in- 
vested them with the power of appealing to that code of laws, 
by which alone the construction, the operation, the efficacy, 
the legal existence or non-existence of treaties, must be test- 
ed : and by this code, they were told in the most emphatic 
terms, that he who violates one article of a treaty, releases 
the other party from the performance of any part of it ; that 
the reference of all cases arising under treaties, to the judi- 
cial department, carried with it every power near or remote, 
direct or collateral, which was essential to a fair and just de- 
cision of those cases; — that in every such case, the very 
first question was, is there a treaty or not ? — not whether 
there has been a treaty — but whether there is an existing, 
obligatory, operative treaty. To decide this question, the 
court must bring the facts to the standard of the laws of na- 
tions ; and by this standard it had been shown, that in the 
case at bar, there existed no treaty from which a British sub- 
ject could claim any benefit. That if the judicial depart- 
ment had not the power of deciding this question, there was 
no department in the American government which did possess 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 379 

it : the state governments have nothing to do with it — 
congress cannot touch the subject — they may indeed declare 
war for a violation ; but a nation was not to be forced to this 
extremity on every occasion; there were other modes of re- 
dress, short of a declaration of war, to which nations had a 
right to resort ; and one of them, as he had shown, was the 
power of withholding from the perfidious violator of a treaty, 
those benefits which he claim_ed under it. Now congress 
could not by a law declare a treaty void — it is not among 
those grants of power which the constitution makes to them; 
they cannot, therefore, meddle with the subject in any other 
way than by a declaration of war ; neither can the presi- 
dent and senate touch it. They can make treaties ; but 
the constitution gives them no power to expound a treaty ; 
much less to declare it void : they can only unite with the 
house of representatives, in punishing an infraction by a dec- 
laration of war. To the judiciary alone then, belongs this 
pacific power of withholding legal benefits, claimed under a 
treaty, because of the 7nala fides of the party claiming them. 
" Now, what will be the situation of this country, compared 
with that of Great Britain, if you deny this power to the 
judiciary ? If you have not observed the treaty with good 
faith, and go to England, claiming any benefit under the 
treaty, there is a power there, called royal prerogative, which 
will tell you — no — go home and act honestly, and you shall 
have your rights under the treaty. Yoiu: breach of faith 
will not drive them to a declaration of war — there is a power 
there which obtains redress by withholding your rights, until 
you act with good faith : but where is the reciprocal and 
corresponding power in our government, if it be not in the 
judiciary ? It is nowhere ; — we have no redress short of a 
declaration of war. Is this one of the precious fruits of the 



380 W I R T S L I F E F 

adoption of the federal constitution, to bind ns hand and foot 
with the fetters of technicahty, and leave us no way of burst- 
ing them asunder, but by a declaration of war, and the effu- 
sion of human blood ! It was never intended. The wisdom 
and virtue which framed the constitution could never have 
intended to place the country in this humiliating and awful 
predicament. Give to this power of deciding on treaties, 
which is delegated to the federal judiciary, a liberal construc- 
tion — give them all the incidental powers necessary to carry 
it into effect — open to them the whole region of natural and 
national law, which furnishes the only rule of expounding 
those national compacts, called treaties, and your government 
is unmutilated, its measure of power is full up to the exigen- 
ces of the nation, and you treat on equal terms : but upon 
the opposite construction, much better would it be that Amer- 
ica should have no treaties at all, than that having them, she 
should want those means of enforcement and redress which 
all other nations possess." 

Having thus established that debts are subject to confisca- 
tion in common wars, and much more so in the war of the 
revolution — that Virginia was an independent nation, and as 
such, competent to the exercise of this right of eminent 
domain — of taking to herself the debts of her enemies — that 
she had in fact exercised this right, and that this debt had, 
under one of her laws of that character, been legally dis- 
charged — that the treaty had no effect in reviving the claim, 
because the treaty had been annulled by the infractions of 
it on the part of Great Britain — and because if it had not, 
this was not a subsisting debt, within the purview of the 
treaty — and finally, that the court's jurisdiction extended to 
every question touching the consequence or annulment of 



PATRICK HENRY. 381 

treaties. He said he had now finished his own view of the 
subject, and should have taken his seat, but for the necessity 
of giving a particular answer to the various objections to 
these principles, which had been so ably urged by the counsel 
for the plaintiff. In this part of his subject he shows the 
most masterly acuteness, address, and vigour. A gentleman 
who was present,* has described some of the circumstances 
of his manner, with a very interesting minuteness : — " Mr. 
Henry," he said, " had taken ample notes of the arguments 
of his adversaries : the people would give him his own time 
to examine his notes, and select the argument or remark 
that he meant to make the subject of his comments, observ- 
ing in these pauses the most profound silence. If the answer 
which he was about to give was a short one, he would give 
it without removing his spectacles from his nose — but if he 
was ever seen to give his spectacles a cant to the top of his 
wig, it was a declaration of loar, and his adversaries must 
stand clear." 

I propose to give a few specimens only of his mode of 
answering the arguments of the opposing counsel. It had 
been urged by them, that the laws of nations had declared 
only the estate of an alien enemy liable to confiscation — but 
that debts were mere rights — choses in action — and there- 
fore not of a confiscable character. His answer to this is a 
happy mixture of ridicule and argument. It is short, and I 
shall give it in his own words : — 

" But a chose in action is not liable to forfeiture. Why ? 
Because it is too terrible to be done. There is such a 
thing as straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. 

* The late Mr. Hardin Burnley. 



382 W I R T S L I F E F 

Things much more terrible have been done — things, from 
which our nature, where it has any pretensions to be pure 
and correct, must recoil with horror. Show me those laws 
which forfeit your life, attaint your blood, and beggar your 
wife and children. Those sanguinary and inhuman laws, 
to which every thing valuable must yield, are to be found in 
the code of that people, under whom the plaintiff now claims. 
Is it so terrible to confiscate debts, when they forfeit life, 
and corrupt th§ very source of your blood ? Though every 
other thing dear to humanity is forfeitable, yet debts, it 
seems, must be spared ! Debts are too sacred to be touched ? 
It is a mercantile idea that worships Mammon instead of 
God. A chose in action shall pass — it is without your reach. 
What authority can they adduce in support of such conclu- 
sive pre-eminence for debts ? No political or human insti- 
tution has placed them above other things. If debt be the 
most sacred of all earthly obligations, I am uninformed from 
whence it has derived that eminence. The principle is to 
be found in the daybooks, journals, and legers of mer- 
chants ; not in the writings or reasonings of the wise and 
well-informed — the enlightened instructors of mankind. Can 
any gentleman show me any instance, where the life or 
property of a gentleman or plebeian in England is forfeited, 
and yet his debts spared ? The state can claim debts due 
to one guilty of high treason. Are they not subject to con- 
fiscation ? I concur in that sound principle, that good faith 
is essential to the happiness of mankind ; that its want slops 
all human intercourse, and renders us miserable. This prin- 
ciple is permanent, and universal. Look to what point of 
the compass you will, you will find it pervading all nations. 
"Who does not set down its sacred infl.uence as the only thing 
that comforts human life ? Does the plaintiff claim through 



PATRICK HENRY. 383 

good faith ? How does he derive his claim ? Through 
perfidy: through a polluted channel. Every thing of that 
kind would have come better from our side of the question, 
than from theirs." 

Mr. Ronald had insisted, strenuously, that there could be 
no forfeiture or escheat without the inquest of a jury ; and 
that no act of the legislature had, in fact, directly forfeited 
these debts. In answer to this, Mr, Henry says, " but the 
gentleman has observed, that neither the declaration of the 
legislature, by the act of 1779, that the British subjects had 
become aliens, and their property vested in the common- 
wealth, nor any other act passed on the subject, could divest 
the debts out of the British creditors. It cannot be done 
without the solemnity of an inquiry by a jury. The debt 
of A or B, cannot be given to C, without this solemnity. Is 
the little legality of forms, which are necessary when you 
speak of estates and titles, requisite on such mighty occasions 
as these ? When the fate of a nation is concerned, you are 
to speak the language of nature. When your very existence 
is at stake, are you to speak the technical language of books, 
and to be confined to the limited rules of technical criticism? 
to those tricks and quirks — those little twists and twirls 
of low chicanery and sophistry, which are so beneficial to 
professional men ? Alexander said, in the style of that 
mighty man, to the Thessalians, ' You are free from the 
Thebans,^ and the debts they owed them were thereby re- 
mitted. Every other sovereign has the same right to use 
the same natural, manly, and laconic language ; not when 
he is victorious only, but in every situation, if he be in a 
state of hostility with other nations. The acts use not the 
language of technicality, they speak not of rpJeases, dis 



384 WIRT S LIFE OF 

charges, and acquittances ; but they speak the legislative 
will, in simple speech, to the human understanding — a style 
better suited to the purpose, than the turgid and pompous 
phraseology of many great writers." 

Mr. Ronald, who was a native of Scotland, and at the 
commencement of the revolutionary war at least, had been 
suspected of being not very warm in the American cause, 
had vu-ged the objection to the national competency of Vir- 
ginia, at the time of the passage of those laws of confiscation 
and forfeiture, on which the defendant relied ; and in the 
course of his observations, had unfortunately used the remark, 
that Virginia was, at that time, nothing more than a revolted 
colony. When Mr. Henry came to notice this remark, he 
gave his spectacles the loar cant : — " But another observa- 
tion," said he, " was made ; that by the law of nations ive had 
not a right to legislate on the subject of British debts — we 
were not an independent nation — and I thought," said he, 
raising himself aloft, while his frame dilated itself beyond the 
ordinary size, " that I heard the word — revolt /" At this 
word, he turned upon Mr. Ronald his piercing eye, and knit 
his brows at him, with an expression of indignation and con- 
tempt, which seemed almost to annihilate him. It was like 
a stroke of lightning. Mr. Ronald shrunk from the wither- 
ing look : and, pale and breathless, cast down his eyes, 
" seeming," says my informant, " to be in quest of an auger- 
hole, by which he might drop through the floor, and escape 
for ever from mortal sight." Mr. Henry perceived his suf- 
fering, and his usual good-nature immediately returned to 
him. He raised his eyes gently toward the court, and shaking 
his head slowly, with an expression of regret, added, " I 
wish I had not heard it : for although innocently meant, 
(and I am sure that it was so, from the character of the 



P A T R I C K 11 E N n Y . 3S5 

gentleman who mentioned it,) yet the somid displeases me — 
it is unpleasant." Mr. Ronald breathed again, and looked up, 
and his generous adversary dismissed the topic, to resume it 
no more. 

It may give the reader some idea of the amplitude of this 
argument, when he is told that Mr. Henry was engaged 
three days successively in its delivery ; and some faint con- 
ception of the enchantment which he threw over it, when he 
learns that although it turned entirely on questions of law, 
yet the audience, mixed as it was, seemed so far from being 
wearied, that they followed him throughout with increased 
enjoyment. The room continued full to the last ; and such 
was " the listening silence" with which he was heard, that 
not a syllable that he uttered is believed to have been lost. 
When he finally sat down, the concourse rose with a general 
murmur of admiration ; the scene resembled the breaking up 
and dispersion of a great theatrical assembly, which had been 
enjoying for the first time, the exhibition of some new and 
splendid drama : the speaker of the house of delegates was at 
length able to command a quorum for business ; and every 
quarter of the city, and, at length, every part of the state, was 
filled with the echoes of Mr. Henry's eloquent speech. 

His practice during these last years, of which we are now 
speaking, was confined pretty generally to cases of conse- 
quence. He did not like the profession, and was not willing 
to embark in any case for the ordinary fees. I have an inter- 
esting sketch of him, in his professional character, during 
those years, from the same elegant pen, which in a former 
page, exhibits the parallel between him and Mr. Lee in 1784 : 
it is as follows : — 

" At the bar, Mr. Henry was eminently successful. When 
I saw him thercy he must, from the course of his life, which 
3 C 33 



386 WIRT S LIFE OF 

had been chiefly pohtical, have become somewhat rusty in 
the learning of his profession : yet I considered him as a 
good lawyer : he seemed to be well acquainted with the rules 
and canons of property. He would not, indeed, undergo 
the drudgery necessary for complicated business ; yet I am 
told, that in the British debt cause, he astonished the public 
not less by the matter than the manner of his speech. It 
was hoAvever as a criminal lawyer that his eloquence had 
the fairest scope, and in that character I have seen him. He 
was perfect master of the passions of his auditory, whether 
in the tragic or comic line. The tones of his voice, to say 
nothing of his matter and gesture, were insinuated into the 
feelings of his hearers, in a manner that baffles all descrip- 
tion. It seemed to operate by mere sympathy ; and by his 
tones alone, it seemed to me, that he could make you cry or 
laugh at pleasure. I will endeavour to give you some ac- 
count of this tragic and comic effect in two instances, which 
I witnessed. 

"About the year 1792, one Holland killed a young man 
in Botetcurt. The young man was popular, and lived, I 
think, with Mr. King, a wealthy merchant in Fincastle, who 
employed Mr. John Brackcnridge to assist in the prosecution 
of Holland. This Holland had gone up from the county of 
Louisa as a schoolmaster, but had turned out badly, and was 
unpopular. The killing was in the night, and was generally 
believed to be murder. He was the son of one Doctor Hol- 
land, who was yet living in Louisa, and had been one of 
Mr. Henry's juvenile friends and acquaintances. It was 
chiefly at the instance of the father, and for a very moderate 
fee, that Mr. Henry undertook to go out to the district court 
of Greenbrier, to defend the prisoner. Such were the pre- 
judices there, that the people had openly and repeatedly de- 



PATRICK HENRY. 387 

clared that even Patrick Henry need not come to defend 
Holland, unless he brought a jury with him. On the day 
of trial, the court-house was crowded. I did not move from 
my seat for fourteen hours ; and had no wish to do so. The 
examination of the witnesses took up great part of the time, 
and the lawyers were probably exhausted. Brackenridge 
was eloquent ; but Henry left no dry eye in the court-house. 
The case I believe was murder ; though, possibly, man- 
slaughter only. Mr. Henry laid hold of this possibility with 
such effect as to make all forget that Holland had killed the 
storekeeper at all ; and presented the deplorable case of the 
jury killing Holland, an innocent man. By that force of 
description which he possessed in so wonderful a degree, he 
exhibited, as it were, at the clerk's table, old Holland and his 
wife, who were then in Louisa ; but the drawing was so 
powerful, and so true to nature, that we seemed to see them 
before us, and to hear them asking of the jury, ' Where is 
our son ? What have you done with him V All this was 
done in a manner so solemn and touching, and a tone so 
irresistible, that it was impossible for the stoutest heart not to 
take sides with the criminal : as for the jury, they lost sight 
of the murder they were trying, and wept most profusely, 
with old Holland and his wife, whom Mr. Henry painted, 
and perhaps proved to be very respectable. During the ex- 
amination of the evidence, the bloody clothes had been brought 
in. Mr. Henry objected to their exhibition, and applied 
most forcibly and pathetically Antony's remark on Cesar's 
wounds, on those dumb ?nouths which would raise the 
stones of Rome to mutiny. He urged that this sight would 
totally deprive the jury of their judgment, which would be 
merged in their feelings. The court were divided, and the 
motion fell. The result of the trial was, that after the re- 



388 WIRT S LIF E OF 

tirement of a half or quarter of an hour, the jury brought 
in a verdict of not guilty ; but on being reminded by the 
court tliat they might find a degree of homicide, inferior 
to murder, they altered their verdict to guilty of man- 
slaughter" 

" Mr. Henry was not less successful in the comic line, 
when it became necessary to resort to it. You have no 
doubt heard how he defeated John Hook, by raising the cry 
of beef against him. I will give you a similar instance. In 
the year 1792, there were many suits on the south side of 
James river, for inflicting Lynch's law.* A verdict of five 
hundred pounds had been given in Prince Edward district 
court, in a case of this kind. This alarmed the defendant in 
the next case, who employed Mr. Henry to defend him. 
The case was, that a wagoner and the plaintiff were travel- 
ling to Richmond together, when the wagoner knocked 
down a turkey, and put it into his wagon. Complaint was 
made to the defendant, a justice of the peace ; both the par- 
ties were taken up, and the wagoner agreed to take a 
M'hipping rather than be sent to jail : but the plaintiff re- 
fused : the justice, however, gave him also a small flagella- 
tion ; and for this the suit was brought. The plaintiff, by 
way of taking off the force of the defence, insisted that he 
was wholly innocent of the act committed. Mr. Henry on 
the contrary contended, that he was a party present, aiding 
and assisting. In the course of his remarks, he expressed 
himself thus : — ' But, gentlemen of the jury, the plaintiff 

* Thirty-nine lashes, inflicted without trial or law, on mere suspicion 
of guilt, which could not be regularly proved. This lawless practice, 
which, sometimes by the order of a magistrate, sometimes without, 
prevailed extensively in the upper counties on James river, took its 
name from the gentleman who set the first example of it. 



PATRICKHENRY. 389 

tells you he had nothing to do with the turkey — I dare say, 
gentlemen, not until it was roasted,^ &c. He pronounced 
this word roasted with such rotundity of voice, such a ludi- 
crous whirl of the tongue, and in a manner so indescribably 
comical, that it threw every one into a fit of laughter at the 
plaintiff, who stood up in the place usually allotted to 
criminals ; and the defendant was let off, with little or no 
damages." 

The case of John Hook, to which my correspondent al- 
ludes, is worthy of insertion. Hook was a Scotchman, a man 
of wealth, and suspected of being unfriendly to the American 
cause. During the distresses of the American army, conse- 
quent on the joint invasion of Cornwallis and Phillips in 
1781, a Mr. Venable, an army commissary had taken two 
of Hook's steers for the use of the troops. The act had not 
been strictly legal ; and on the establishment of peace, Hook^ 
under the advice of Mr. Cowan, a gentleman of some dis- 
tinction in the law, thought proper to bring an action of tres- 
pass against Mr. Venable, in the district court of New Lon- 
don. Mr. Henry appeared for the defendant, and is said to 
have disported himself in this cause to the infinite enjoy- 
ment of his hearers, the unfortunate Hook always excepted. 
After Mr. Henry became animated in the cause, says a cor- 
respondent,* he appeared to have complete control over the 
passions of his audience : at one time he excited their indig- 
nation against Hook : vengeance was visible in every coun- 
tenance : again, when he chose to relax and ridicule him, 
the whole audience was in a roar of laughter. He painted 
the distresses of the American army, exposed almost naked 
to the rigour of a winter's sky, and marking the frozen 

* Judge Stuart. 



390 WIRTSLIFEOF 

ground over which they marched, with the blood of their 
unshod feet — " where was the man," he said, " who had an 
American heart in his bosom, who would not have thrown 
open his fields, his barns, his cellars, the doors of his house, 
the portals of his breast, to have received with open arms, 
the meanest soldier in that little band of famished patriots ? 
Where is the m.an ? — There he stands — ^but whether the 
heart of an American beats in his bosom, you, gentlemen, 
are to judge." He then carried the jury, by the powers of his 
imagination, to the plains around York, the surrender of 
which had followed shortly after the act complained of: he 
depicted the surrender in the most glowing and noble colours 
of his eloquence — the audience saw before their eyes the 
humiliation and dejection of the British, as they marched out 
of their trenches — they saw the triumph which lighted up 
every patriot face, and heard the shouts of victory, and the 
cry of Washington and liberty, as it rung and echoed through 
the American ranks, and was reverberated from the hills and 
shores of the neighbouring river — " but hark ! what notes 
of discord are these which disturb the general joy, and silence 
the acclamations of victory — they are the notes of John 
Hook, hoarsely bawling through the American camp, heef! 
beef! beef!" 

The whole audience were convulsed : a particular incident 
will give a better idea of the effect, than any general descrip- 
tion. The clerk of the court, unable to command himself, 
and unwilling to commit any breach of decorum in his 
place, rushed out of the court-house, and threw himself on 
the grass, in the most violent paroxysm of laughter, where 
he was rolling, when Hook, with very different feelings, came 
out for rehef into the yard also. " Jemmy Steptoe," said he 
to the clerk, "what the devil ails ye, mon?" Mr. Steptoe 



PATRICK HENRY. 391 

was only able to say, that he could not help it. " Never 
mind ye," said Hook, " wait till Billy Cowan gets up : hell 
show him the la'." Mr. Cowan, however, was so completely 
overwhelmed by the torrent which bore upon his client, that 
when he rose to reply to Mr. Henry, he was scarcely able to 
make an intelligible or audible remark. The cause was de- 
cided almost by acclamation. The jury retired for form sake, 
and instantly returned with a verdict for the defendant. Nor 
did the effect of Mr. Henry's speech stop here. The people 
were so highly excited by the tory audacity of such a suit, 
that Hook began to hear around him a cry more terrible than 
that of beef: it was the cry of tar and feathers : from the 
application of which it is said, that nothing saved him but a 
precipitate flight and the speed of his horse. 

I have not attempted, in the course of these sketches, to 
follow Mr. Henry through his professional career. I have 
no materials to justify such an attempt. It has been, indeed, 
stated to me in general, that he appeared in such and such 
a case, and that he shone with great lustre ; but neither his 
speeches in those cases, nor any point of his argument, nor 
even any brilliant passage has been communicated, so that 
the sketch that could be given of them must be either con- 
fined to a meager catalogue of the causes, or the canvass 
must be filled up by my own fancy, which would at once be 
an act of injustice to Mr. Henry, and a departure from that 
historical veracity, which it has been my anxious study, in 
every instance, to observe. 

I have been told, for example, that in the year 1774, Mr. 
Henry appeared at the bar of the general court, in defence 
of a married man, by the name of Henry Bullard, indicted 
for the murder of a beautiful girl, who lived in his house, to 
whom he had unfortunately become attached, and whom in a 



392 WIRT S LIFE OF 

moment of frantic despair, he sacrificed to his hopeless pas- 
sion. The defence is said to have been placed on the ground 
of insanity ; and it is easy to conceive, in general, the figure 
which Mr. Henry must have made in such a course. Those 
pathetic powers of eloquence, in which he was so pre-emi- 
nently great, had ample scope for their exercise in this case ; 
and we can credit, without difficulty, the assertion, that he 
deluged the house with tears, and effected the acquittal of his 
client. But this is all that we know of the case.* 

So also I learn that, on some occasion after the war, he 
appeared at the bar of the house of delegates, in support of 
a petition of the officers of the Virginia line, who sought to 
be placed on the footing of those who had been taken on 
continental establishment : and that, after having depicted 
their services and their sufferings, in colours which filled 
every heart with sympathy and gratitude, he dropped on his 
knees, at the bar of the house, and presented such an appeal 
as might almost have softened rocks, and bent the knotted 
oak. Yet no vestige of this splendid speech remains ; nor 
have I been able, after the most diligent inquiries, to ascer- 
tain the year in which it occurred ; similar petitions having 
been presented for several successive sessions. 

It was in the year 1794, tiiat he bade a final adieu to his 
profession, and retired to the bosom of his own family. He 
retired, loaded with honours, public and professional : and 
carried with him the admiration, the gratitude, the confi- 

* If this is the case of Henry Bullard, who was indicted at the April 
term of 1774, for the murder of Mary Pinner, this honour claimed by 
my correspondent for Mr. Henry is not due ; for the records of the 
general court show, that the indictment, although originally drawn 
for the charge of murder, was reduced to manslaughter by the grand 
jury ; of which offence the prisoner was convicted. There is, proba- 
bly, some mistake in the name. 



PATRIC K HENRY. 393 

dence, and the love of his country. No man had ever passed 
through so long a life of public service, with a reputation 
more perfectly unspotted. Nor had Mr. Henry, on any oc- 
casion, sought security from censure, by that kind of pru- 
dent silence and temporizing neutrality, w^hich politicians 
so frequently observe. On the contrary, his course had been 
uniformly active, bold, intrepid, and independent. On every 
great subject of public interest, the part vi^hich he had taken 
was open, decided, manly ; his country saw his motives, 
heard his reasons, approved his conduct, rested upon his 
virtue and his vigour; and contemplated with amazement, 
the evolution and unremitted display of his transcendent 
talents. For more than thirty years he had now stood be- 
fore that country — open to the scrutiny and the censure of 
the invidious — yet he retired, not only without spot or 
blemish, but with all his laurels blooming full and fresh upon 
him — followed by the blessings of his almost adoring coun- 
trymen, and cheered by that most exquisite of all earthly 
possessions — the consciousness of having, in deed and in 
truth, played ivell his part. He had now, too, become dis- 
embarrassed of debt ; his fortune was affluent ; and he en- 
joyed in his retirement, that ease and dignity, which no man 
ever more richly deserved. 

3D 



SECTION X. 

Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to other 
parts of his character, in this the concurrence is universal : 
that there never was a man better constituted than Mr. 
Henry to enjoy and adorn the retirement on which he had 
now entered. Nothing can be more amiable, nothing more 
interesting and attaching, than those pictures which have 
been furnished from every quarter, without one dissentient 
stroke of the pencil, of this great and virtuous man in the 
bosom of private life. Mr. Jefferson says, that " he was the 
best-humoured companion in the world." His disposition 
was indeed all sweetness — his affections were warm, kind, 
and social — his patience invincible — his temper ever un- 
clouded, cheerful, and serene — his manners plain, open, 
familiar, and simple — his conversation easy, ingenuous, and 
unaffected, full of entertainment, full of instruction, and irra- 
diated with all those light and softer graces, which his genius 
threw, without effort, over the most common subjects. It is 
said that there stood in the court, before his door, a large 
walnut-tree, under whose shade it was his delight to pass his 
summer evenings, surrounded by his affectionate and happy 
family, and by a circle of neighbours who loved him almost 
to idolatry. Here he would disport himself with all the care- 
less gayety of infancy. Here, too, he would sometimes warm 
the bosoms of the old, and strike fire from the eyes of his 
younger hearers, by recounting the tales of other times ; by 



P A T R I C K II E N R Y . 395 

sketching with the boldness of a master's hand, those great 
historic incidents in which he had borne a part ; and by- 
drawing to the hfe, and placing before his audience, in 
colours as fresh and strong as those of nature, the many 
illustrious men in every quarter of the continent, with whom 
he had acted a part on the public stage. Here, too, he would 
occasionally discourse with all the Avisdom and all the elo- 
quence of a Grecian sage, of the various duties and offices of 
life ; and pour forth those lessons of practical utility, with 
which long experience and observation had stored his mind. 
Many were the visiters from a distance, old and young, who 
came on a kind of pious pilgrimage, to the retreat of the 
veteran patriot, and found him thus delightfully and usefully 
employed — the old to gaze upon him with long-remembered 
affection, and ancient gratitude — the young, the ardent, and 
the emulous, to behold and admire, with swimming eyes, 
the champion of other days, and to look with a sigh of gen- 
erous regret, upon that height of glory which they could 
never hope to reach. Blessed be the shade of that vener- 
able tree — ever hallowed the spot which his genius has 
consecrated ! 

Mr. Henry received these visits with all his characteristic 
plainness and modesty ; and never failed to reward the fa- 
tigue of the journey by the warmest welcome, and by the 
unceremonious and fascinating familiarity, with which he 
would at once enter into conversation with his new guests, 
and cause them to forget that they were strangers, or abroad. 
Nor must the reader suppose that in these conversations he 
assumed any airs of superiority ; much less that his conver- 
sation was, as in some of our conspicuous men, a continued, 
imperious, and didactic lecture. On the contrary, he carried 
into private life, all those principles of equality which had 



396 WIRT S LIFE OF 

governed him in public. That ascendency, indeed, which 
proceeded from the superior energy of his mind, and the 
weight of his character, would manifest itself unavoidably, 
in the deference of his companions ; but there was nothing 
in his manner which would have ever reminded them of it. 
On the contrary, it seemed to be his study to cause them to 
forget it, and to decoy them into a free and equal interchange 
of thought. If he took the lead in conversation, it was not 
because he sovight it ; but because it was forced upon him, 
by that silent delight with which he perceived that his com- 
pany preferred to listen to him. 

But it was in the bosom of his own family, where the eye 
of every visiter and even every neighbour was shut out — 
where neither the love of fame, nor the fear of censure, could 
be suspected of throwing a false light upon his character — 
it was in that very scene, in which it has been said that " no 
man is a hero," that Mr. Henry's heroism shone with the 
most engaging beauty. It was to his wife, to his children 
to his servants, that his true character was best known : to 
this grateful, devoted, happy circle, Avere best known the 
patient and tender forbearance, the kind indulgence, the 
forgiving mildness, and sweetness of his spirit, those pure 
and warm affections, which were always looking out for the 
means of improving their felicity, and that watchful prudence 
and circumspection, which guarded them from harm. What 
can be more amiable than the playful tenderness with which 
he joined in the sports of his little children, and the bound- 
less indulgence with which he received and returned their ca- 
resses ? " His visiters," says one of my correspondents, " have 
not unfrequently caught him lying on the floor, with a group 
of these little ones, climbing over him in every direction, or 
dancing around him, with obstreperous mirth, to the tune 



PATRICK HENRY. 397 

of his violin, while the only contest seemed to be who should 
make the most noise." If there be any bachelor so cold of 
heart as to be offended at this anecdote, T can only remind 
him of the remark of the great Agesilaus to the friend who 
found him riding on a stick among his children : " DonH 
mention it, till you are yourself a father.^'' 

Such were the scenes of domestic and social bliss, such 
the delicious tranquillity, in which Mr. Henry passed the first 
years of his retirement. Yet this retreat, which so well de- 
served to have been considered as sacred, was doomed in a 
few years to be disturbed by the bickerings of pohtical party. 

Since Mr. Henry's retirement from public life, new parties 
had arisen in the United States, whose animosities had been 
carried to an alarming height. The federalists, who sup- 
ported the measures of the new government throughout, 
were accused by their adversaries of a disposition to strain 
the constructive powers of the constitution to their highest 
possible pitch ; of a secret wish to convert the government 
into a substantial monarchy at least ; to which purpose, the 
assumption of state debts, the establishment of the funding 
system, and of the national bank, the alarming increase of 
the public debt, the imposition of a heavy load of internal 
taxes, the establishment of an army and a navy, with all 
their consequences of favouritism and extensive executive 
patronage, were alleged to have been introduced. They 
were branded with the name of aristocrats, a name of re- 
proach borrowed from the parties in France ; and were 
charged with being inimical to the cause of human liberty, 
as was said to be proved by their hostility to the progress of 
the French revolution, as well as by the alarming character of 
those measures which they were pushing forward in Amer- 
ica. They were suspected and accused of a preference for 



398 W I R T S L I F E O F 

a government of ranks and orders, and a secret love of titles 
of nobility ; of which it was said, one of their principal 
leaders had furnished a decisive proof, so far as he was con- 
cerned, by having proposed the introduction of titles in the 
continental convention which had framed the constitution. 
The party which urged these charges, took the name of re- 
pubhcans and democrats ; declared themselves the friends 
of liberty and the people, and the firm advocates of a govern- 
ment of the people by the people. They were devoted, with 
enthusiasm, to the cause of liberty in France : considered 
man, as the only title of nobility which ought to be admitted, 
and his freedom and liappiness as the sole objects of govern- 
ment ; this they contended, was the principle on which the 
American revolution had turned ; that the great objects of 
the revolution could be no otherwise attained, than by a sim- 
ple, pure, economical, and chaste administration of the federal 
government ; and by restricting the several departments under 
the new constitution, to the express letter of the powers as- 
signed to them by that instrument. 

The federalists on the other hand, denied and repelled, 
with great acrimony and vehemence, the charges which had 
been urged against them by their adversaries. They con- 
tended that the measures complained of were warranted 
by the constitution, and were necessary to give to the federal 
government the effect which was intended by its adoption. 
They insisted that they were simply the friends of order and 
good government ; and in their turn, branded their adver- 
saries with the name of Jacobins, who having caught the 
mania from France, were for overturning all government, 
and throwing every thing into anarchy and uproar, in the 
hope of rising themselves to the top of the chaos. They 
alleged that the opposition was formed of the dregs of the 



PATRICK HENRY. 399 

American people, headed and goaded on by a few designing 
men, and fermented into faction by the revolutionary ele- 
ments thrown among them, from abroad, in the shape of 
French and Irish emigrants and convicts. They insisted, 
that it was indispensably necessary to the peace and order of 
the American nation, that those foreign incendiaries should 
be driven out from the land, and that the licentious fury of 
our own populace should also be bridled. Under this im- 
pression, were passed those alien and sedition laws, which 
are supposed to have put an end to the federal power in 
America. 

It is not my function to decide between these parties ; nor 
do I feel myself qualified for such an office. I have lived 
too near the times, and am conscious of having been toe 
strongly excited by the feelings of the day, to place myself 
in the chair of the arbiter. It would indeed, be no difficult 
task to present, under the engaging air of historic candour, 
the arguments on one side, in an attitude so bold and com- 
manding ; and to exhibit those on the other, under a form so 
faint and shadowy, as to beguile the reader into the adop- 
tion of my own opinions. But this would be unjust to the 
opposite party, and a disingenuous abuse of the confidence 
of the reader. Let us then remit the question to the histo- 
rian of future ages ; who, if the particular memory of the 
past times shall not be lost in those great events which seem 
preparing for the nation, will probably decide, that, as in 
most family quarrels, both parties have been somewhat in 
the wrong. 

For my purpose, it is sufficient to state the rise and ex- 
istence of those parties, and the fact that their collision had 
convulsed the whole society. Mr. Henry, although removed 
from the immediate scene of contention, was still an object 



400 WIRT S LIFE OF 

of too much consequence to be viewed with indifference. 
He had a weight of character which gave to his opinions a 
preponderating influence on every subject, and both parties 
were equally anxious to gain him to their cause. His ex- 
pressions were watched with the most anxious attention, and 
it was not long before an alarm of his defection from the 
popular cause was given . The first occasion of it I discover, 
was the treaty of 1794, with Great Britain, commonly known 
by the name of Jay's treaty. 

It will be remembered by the reader, that Mr. Henry had 
objected to the constitution on the ground that it gave to the 
president and senate, the ivhole treaty-making power. This 
construction of the instrument was not denied in the state 
convention ; but on the contrary, was at least impliedly ad- 
mitted ; and the provision was vindicated on the ground that 
the power of treating could be no where more safely and 
properly lodged. When, therefore, the republican leaders in 
the house of representatives claimed a right to participate in 
the ratification of Jay's treaty, Mr. Henry considered them 
as inconsistent with themselves, and as departing from their 
own construction of the constitution. This charge and the 
defence, have both been made known to me, by the following 
letter from Mr. Henry to his daughter, Mrs. Aylett : — 

"Red Hill, August 20th, 1796. 
" My dear Betsy, 

" Mr. William Aylett's arrival here, with your letter, gave 
me the pleasure of hearing of your welfare, and to hear of 
that is highly gratifying to me, as I so seldom see you," &c- 
[The rest of this paragraph relates to family affairs.] 

" As to the reports you have heard of my changing sides 
in politics, I can only say they are not true. I am too old 



PATRICK HENRY. 401 

to exchange my former opinions, which have grown up into 
fixed habits of thinking. True it is, I have condemned the 
conduct of our members in congress, because, in refusing to 
raise money for the purposes of the British treaty, they, in 
effect, would have surrendered our country bound, hand and 
foot, to the power of the British nation. This must have 
been the consequence, I think ; but the reasons for thinking 
so are too tedious to trouble you with. The treaty is, in my 
opinion, a very bad one indeed. But what must I think of 
those men, whom I myself warned of the danger of giving 
the power of making laws by means of treaty, to the presi- 
dent and senate, when I see these same men denying the 
existence of that power, which they insisted, in our conven- 
tion, ought properly to be exercised by the president and 
senate, and by none other ? The policy of these men, both 
then and now, appears to me quite void of wisdom and 
foresight. These sentiments I did mention in conversation 
in Richmond, and perhaps others which I don't remember ; 
but sure I am, my first principle is, that from the British we 
have every thing to dread, when opportunities of oppressing 
us shall offer. 

" It seems that every word was watched which I casually 
dropped, and wrested to answer party views. Who can 
have been so meanly employed, I know not — nor do I care ; 
for I no longer consider myself as an actor on the stage of 
public life. It is time for me to retire ; and I shall never 
more appear in a public character, unless some unlooked-for 
circumstance shall demand from me a transient effort, not in- 
consistent with private life — in which I have determined to 
continue. I see with concern oiur old commander-in-chief 
most abusively treated — nor are his long and great services 
remembered, as any apology for his mistakes in an office to 
3 E 34* 



402 WIRTSLIFEOF 

which he was totally unaccustomed. If he, whose charac- 
ter as our leader during the whole war was above all praise, 
is so roughly handled in his old age, what may be expected 
by men of the common standard of character ? I ever wished 
he might keep himself clear of the ofl&ce he bears, and its 
attendant difficulties — but I am sorry to see the gross abuse 
which is published of him. Thus, my dear daughter, have 
I pestered you with a long letter on politics, which is a sub- 
ject little interesting to you, except as it may involve my 
reputation. I have long learned the little value which is to 
be placed on popularity, acquired by any other way than 
virtue ; and I have also learned, that it is often obtained by 
other means. The view which the rising greatness of our 
country presents to my eyes, is greatly tarnished by the gen- 
eral prevalence of deism ; which, with me, is but another 
name for vice and depravity. I am, however, much con- 
soled by reflecting, that the religion of Christ has, from its 
first appearance in the world, been attacked in vain, by all 
the wits, philosophers, and wise ones, aided by every power 
of man, and its triumph has been complete. What is there 
in the wit, or wisdom of the present deistical writers or pro- 
fessors, that can compare them with Hume, Shaftsbury, 
Bolingbroke, and others ? and yet these have been confuted, 
and their fame decaying; insomuch, that the puny efforts 
of Paine are thrown in to prop their tottering fabric, whose 
foundations cannot stand the test of time. Amongst other 
strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the deists that 
I am one of the number; and, indeed, that some good 
people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me 
much more pain than the appellation of tory ; because I 
think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics ; 
and I find much cause to reproach m^^self, that I have lived 



PATRICK HENRY. 403 

SO long, and have given no decided and public proofs of my 
being a Cliristian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is a 
character v^^hich I prize far above all this world has or can 
boast. And amongst all the handsome things I hear said of 
you, what gives me the greatest pleasure is, to be told of 
your piety and steady virtue. Be assured there is not one 
tittle, as to disposition or character, in which my parental af- 
fection for you would suffer a wish for your changing ; and 
it flatters my pride to have you spoken of as you are. 

" Perhaps Mr. Roane and Anne may have heard the re- 
ports you mention. If it will be any object with them to 
see what I write you, show them this. But my wish is to 
pass the rest of my days, as much as may be, unobserved by 
the critics of the world, who would show but little sympathy 
for the deficiencies to which old age is so liable. May God 
bless you, my dear Betsy, and your children. Give my love 
to Mr. Aylett, 

" And believe me ever, 

"Your affectionate father, 

" P. Henry." 

This charge, however, had not deprived Mr. Henry of the 
confidence of his country ; for in the session of the legislature 
which followed the date of his letter, he was for the third 
time elected the governor of the state. The letter by which 
he declined the acceptance of that office is as follows : — 

"To the honourable the speaker of the house of delegates. 

" Charlotte County, Nov. 29th, 1796. 
" Sir, 

" I have just received the honour of yours, informing me 
of my appointment to the chief magistracy of the com- 



404 WIRT S LIFE OF 

monwealth. And I have to beg the favour of you, sir, to 
convey to the general assembly, my best acknowledgments, 
and w^armest gratitude for the signal honour they have con- 
ferred on me. I should be happy if I could persuade myself, 
that mv abilities w^ere commensurate to the duties of that 
office ; but my declining years warn me of my inability. 

" I beg leave, therefore, to decline the appointment, and tc 
hope and trust that the general assembly will be pleased to 
excuse me for doing so ; as no doubt can be entertained that 
many of my fellow-citizens possess the requisite abilities for 
this high trust. 

" With the highest regard, I am, sir, 

" Your most obedient servant, 

" P. Henry." 

This was the last testimonial of public confidence which 
Mr. Henry received from his native state. The rumours of 
his political apostacy became strong and general. He was 
a prize worth contending for ; and it is not wonderful, there- 
fore, that the rival parties observed, with the most jealous 
distrust, every advance which was made toward him by the 
other, and interpreted such advances as so many stratagems 
to gain him over : nor is it wonderful, if, during the fever of 
that hot and violent struggle, many things were supposed to 
be seen, which did not in fact exist : and that those which 
did exist, were sometimes seen under false shapes and col- 
ours. It was reported at that day, that on Mr. Jefferson's 
resignation of the office of secretary of state, that office was 
offered to Mr. Henry, in the confidence, that while the offer 
would gratify him, he would nevertheless reject it : however 
this may be, it is certain that the embassy to Spain was of- 
fered to him, during the first administration ; and that to 



PATRICK HENRY. 405 

France during the second.* These offers were known at the 
time ; and when compared with his advanced age — the 
large family with which he was encumbered — his settled 
and well-known purpose of retirement — and the consequent 
probability that these offers would not be accepted — and the 
sentiments which he afterward expressed, in favour of some 
of the measures of administration, which were extremely 
obnoxious in Virginia — those offers were considered by the 
republicans, as so many strokes of political flattery, addressed 
to the vanity of an old man, and which had been but too 
successful in having won him to the federal ranks. That he 
approved of the alien and sedition laws, as good measures, 
is undeniable ; indeed, he was not a man who would deny 
any opinion that he held : and, however honest might have 
been his conviction, both of the constitutionality and expe- 
diency of these measures, it is equally undeniable, that his 
sentiments in relation to them, combined with the above 
causes, by which those sentiments were suspected of having 
been influenced, produced an extremely unpropitious effect 
on his popularity in Virginia. 

The charge of apostacy, however, implies a previous com- 
mitment to the opposite side : but the evidence that Mr. 
Henry ever stood committed to the democratic or to any 
other party, (except the great American party of liberty and 
republican government,) has not yet been seen by the author 
of these sketches. At the time of his retirement, it is be- 
lieved that the post-constitutional parties were not distinctly 
marked. He had no opportunity, after they were so marked, 
of expressing his opinion publicly in favour of the one side 
or the other. It is highly probable, that his opinions did not 

* On the authority of Judge Winston. 



406 WIRTSLIFEOF 

coincide throughout with those of either side : and it would 
be rather rash to infer, from his disapprobation of one or 
more measures of the administration, or from his general 
love of liberty, that he must of necessity have been attached 
at first to the democratic side. Nor would it be more correct 
to infer, from his having resisted the adoption of the federal 
constitution, that he was therefore opposed to the measures 
of those who administered it ; for the converse of this propo- 
sition, which must be equally true, would have thrown many 
more into the federal ranks than would have been willing to 
acknowledge the connexion. Mr. Henry had moreover de- 
clared, as we have seen, in the last speech which he made in 
the state convention, in opposition to the constitution, that if 
it should be adopted, he would be a peaceable citizen ; that 
he would not go to violence, but that he would seek the cor- 
rection of whatever he thought amiss, hy quiet means. 
Upon the whole, it would seem more liberal, more consonant 
to the high character of Mr. Henry's mind, with his time of 
life, and with that distant and feeble connexion which he 
now considered himself as holding with politics, and indeed 
with the world — to believe that he looked, without passion or 
prejudice of any kind, on the course of the administration, 
approving or condemning, according to his own judgment, 
without reference to the pleasure or opinions of either side : 
or if we must suppose him under personal influence of any 
kind, would it have been unpardonable in him, to have been 
influenced by the opinions of that man, who had ever stood 
first both in his judgment and affections, and whom all Amer- 
ica acknowledged as the father of his country ? 

Other natural causes, too, may be fairly considered as 
naving united their influence in producing this difference of 
political sentiment, between Mr. Heirry and the majority of 



PATRICKHENRY. 407 

his state. In the year 1797, his health began to decHne, 
and continued to sink gradually to the moment of his death.* 
He had now passed through a stormy life to his sixtieth year, 
and the vigour of his mind, exhausted more by past toils 
than by years, began to give way. Those energies which 
had enabled him to brave the power of Great Britain, and 
to push forward the glorious revolution which made us free, 
existed no longer in their original force. The usual infirm- 
ities of age and disease began to press, sorely and heavily, 
upon his sinking spirits. He was startled by that clash of 
contending parties, which rang continually around him, and 
invaded, with perpetually increasing horror, the stillness of 
his retreat. His retirement cut him oflf, almost entirely, 
from all communication with those who were best able to 
explain the grounds, as well as the character and measure 
of opposition to the offensive measures, which was intended ; 
and the spirit and views of that opposition were, no doubt, 
aggravated to him by report. Acting as those things did on 
the mind of an infirm old man ; worn out by the toils and 
troubles of the past revolution, and naturally wishing for re- 
pose ; alarmed too, and agonized by the hideous scenes of 
that revolution which was then going on in France ; and 
tortured by the apprehension, that those scenes were about 
to be acted over again in his own country — it is not surprising, 
that he was dismayed by the vehemence of that political 
strife which then agitated the United States ; nor would it 
be surprising, if his solicitude to allay the ferment and re- 
store the peace of society, should, in some degree, have ob- 
scured the decisions of his mind ; and placed him, rather by 
his fears than his judgment, in opposition to the forcible 

* Judge Winston. 



408 WIRT S LIFE OF 

resistance, which he had been erroneously led to consider as 
meditated by the democratic party. In a mind thus prepared, 
the strong and animated resolutions of the Virginia assembly, 
in 1798, in relation to the alien and sedition laws, conjured 
up the most frightful visions of civil war, disunion, blood, 
and anarchy ; and under the impulse of these phantoms, to 
make what he considered a virtuous effort for his country, 
he presented himself in Charlotte county, as a candidate for 
the house of delegates, at the spring election of 1799. 

On the day of the election, as soon as he appeared on the 
ground, he was surrounded by the admiring and adoring 
crowd, and whithersoever he moved, the concourse followed 
him. A preacher of the Baptist Church, whose piety was 
wounded by this homage paid to a mortal, asked the people 
aloud, " Why they thus followed Mr. Henry about ? — Mr. 
Henry," said he, " is not a god !" " No," said Mr. Henr}', 
deeply affected both by the scene and the remark : "no, in- 
deed, my friend ; I am but a poor worm of the dust — as 
fleeting and unsubstantial as the shadow of the cloud that 
flies over your fields, and is remembered no more." The 
tone with which this was uttered, and the look which ac- 
companied it, affected every heart, and silenced every voice. 
Envy and opposition were disarmed by his humility; the 
recollection of his past services rushed upon every memory, 
and he "read his history" in their swimming eyes. 
^ Before the polls were opened, he addressed the people of 
the county to the following effect : — " He told them that the 
late proceedings of the Virginian assembly had filled him with 
apprehensions and alarm ; that they had planted thorns upon 
his pillow; that they had drawn him from that happy re- 
tirement which it had pleased a bountiful Providence to 
bestow, and in which he had hoped to pass, in quiet, the 



PATRICK HENRY. 409 

remainder of his days ; that the state had quitted the sphere 
in which she had been placed by the constitution ; and in 
daring to pronounce upon the vahdity of federal laws, had 
gone out of her jurisdiction in a manner not warranted by 
any authority, and in the highest degree alarming to every 
considerate man ; that such opposition, on the part of Vir- 
ginia, to the acts of the general government, must beget their 
enforcement by military power ; that this would probably 
produce civil war ; civil war, foreign alliances ; and that 
foreign alliances must necessarily end in subjugation to the 
powers called in. He conjured the people to pause and con- 
sider well, before they rushed into such a desperate condi- 
tion, from which there could be no retreat. He painted to 
their imaginations, Washington, at the head of a numerous 
and well-appointed army, inflicting upon them military exe- 
cution : ' And where (he asked) are our resources to meet 
such a conflict ? — Where is the citizen of America who will 
dare to lift his hand against the father of his country V A 
drunken man in the crowd threw up his arm, and exclaimed 
that ' he dared to do it.' — ' No,' answered Mr. Henry, rising 
aloft in all his majesty : ' you dare not do it : in such a 
parricidal attempt, the steel tvould drop from your nerve- 
less armP 'The look and gesture at this moment, (says a 
correspondent,) gave to these words an energy on my mind 
unequalled by any thing that I have ever witnessed.' Mr. 
Henry, proceeding in his address to the people, asked — 
* whether the county of Charlotte would have any authority 
to dispute an obedience to the laws of Virginia ;' and he pro- 
nounced Virginia to be to the Union, what the county of 
Charlotte was to her. 

"Having denied the right of a state to decide upon the con- 
' 3 F 35 



410 WIRT S LIFE OF 

stitutionality of federal laws, he added, that perhaps it might 
be necessary to say something of the merits of the laws in 
question. His private opinion was, that they were ^ good 
and proper? But, whatever might be their merits, it be- 
longed to the people, who held the reins over the head of 
congress, and to them alone, to say whether they were ac- 
ceptable or otherwise to Virginians ; and that this must be 
done by way of petition. That congress were as much our 
representatives as the assembly, and had as good a right to 
our confidence. He had seen with regret, the unlimited 
power over the purse and sword consigned to the general 
government ; but that he had been overruled, and it was 
now necessary to submit to the constitutional exercise of that 
power. ' If,' said he, ' I am asked what is to be done, when 
a people feel themselves intolerably oppressed, my answer is 
ready : — Overturn the government. But do not, I beseech 
you, carry matters to this length, without provocation. Wait 
at least until some infringement is made upon your rights, 
and which cannot otherwise be redressed ; for if ever you 
recur to another change, you may bid adieu for ever to 
representative government. You can never exchange the 
present government but for a monarchy. If the adminis- 
tration have done wrong, let us all go wrong together, rather 
than split into factions, which must destroy that union upon 
which our existence hangs. Let us preserve our strength 
for the French, the English, the Germans, or whoever else 
shall dare to invade our territory, and not exhaust it in civil 
commotions and intestine wars.' He concluded, by declaring 
his design to exert himself in the endeavour to allay the 
heart-burnings and jealousies which had been fomented in 
the state legislature ; and he fervently prayed, if he was 
deemed unworthy to eifect it, that it might be reserved to 



PATRICK HENRY. 411 

some other and abler hand, to extend this blessing over the 
community.'V 

This was the substance of the speech written down at 
the time by one of his hearers. " There was," says the 
writer, " an emphasis in his language, to which, like the 
force of his articulation, and the commanding expression of 
his eye, no representation can do justice ; yet I am conscious 
of having given a correct transcript of his opinions, and, in 
many instances, his very expression.'' 

Such was the last effort of Mr. Henry's eloquence : the 
power of the noonday sun was gone ; but its setting splen- 
dours were not less beautiful and touching. After this 
speech, the polls were opened ; and he was elected by his 
usual commanding majority. 

His intention having been generally known for some time 
before the period of the state elections, the most formidable 
preparations were made to oppose him in the assembly. Mr. 
Madison, (the late president of the United States,) Mr. Giles 
of Amelia, Mr. Taylor of Caroline, Mr. Nicholas of Albemarle, 
and a host of young men of shining talents, from every part 
of the state, were arrayed in the adverse rank, and com- 
manded a decided majority in the house. But Heaven, in 
its mercy, saved him from the unequal conflict. The disease 
which had been preying upon him for two years, now has- 
tened to its crisis; and on the sixth day of June, 1799, this 
friend of liberty and of man was no more ! 

Here let us pause. The storm of 1799, thank Heaven! 
has passed away ; and we again enjoy the calm and sun- 
shine of domestic peace. We are able, now, to see with 
other eyes, and to feel with far diiferent hearts. Who is there 



412 WIRTSLIFEOF 

that, looking back upon the part which he bore in those 
scenes, can say that he was at no time guiUy of any fault of 
conduct, any error of opinion, or any vicious excess of feel 
ing ? The man who can say this, is either very much to be 
pitied, or most exceedingly to be envied. But whatever we 
may be disposed to say or to think of ourselves, there can 
be very little doubt, that that Being, who is the searcher of 
hearts, sees very much during that period, to be forgiven in 
us all. It would, indeed, be presumptuous in the extreme, 
amid the universal admission which is made of the imperfec 
tion of human nature, in the happiest circumstances, to con 
tend for its infallibility, while acting under the scourge of the 
most angry and vindictive passions. 

Let it be admitted, then, that during the period of which 
we are speaking, Mr. Henry was guilty of a political aber- 
ration; but let all the peculiar circumstances of his case 
which have been enumerated, be taken into the account , 
and let it be farther remembered, that if he did go astray, as 
the majority of the state believe, he strayed in company with 
the father of his country — and where is the heart so cold 
and thankless, as to balance a mistake thus committed, 
against a long life of such solid, splendid, and glorious util- 
ity ? Certainly not in Virginia — and it is to Virginians only 
that this appeal is made. The sentiments now so univer- 
sally expressed in relation to Mr. Henry, evince, that the age 
of party resentment has passed away, and that that of the 
noblest gratitude has taken its place. But let us return to 
our narrative. 

At the session of the assembly immediately following Mr. 
Henry's death, before the spirit of party had time to relent, 
and give way to that generous feeling of grateful veneration 



PATRICK HENRY. 413 

for him, which now pervades the state, a federal member of 
the house moved the following resolution : — 

" The general assembly of Virginia, as a testimonial of 
their veneration for the character of their late illustrious 
fellow-citizen, Patrick Henry, whose unrivalled eloquence 
and superior talents were, in times of peculiar peril and dis- 
tress, so uniformly, so powerfully, and so successfully, devo- 
ted to the cause of freedom, and of his country — and, in 
order to invite the present and future generations to an imi- 
tation of his virtues, and an emulation of his fame — 

" Resolved, That the executive be authorized and re- 
quested, to procure a marble bust of the said Patrick 
Henry, at the public expense, and to cause the same to 
be placed in one of the niches of the hall of the house of 
delegates." 

Nothing could have been more unfortunate for the success 
of this resolution, than the tim^e at which it was brought for- 
ward, and the mover by whom it was offered. The time, as 
we have seen, was during that paroxysm of displeasure 
against Mr. Henry, which even his death, although it had 
abated, had not entirely allayed : and the mover was a gen- 
tleman who had himself been recently counted on the repub- 
lican side of the house, and was now also smarting under 
the charge of apostacy. All the angry passions of the house 
immediately arose at such a proposition, from such a quarter. 
A republican member moved to lay the resolution on the 
table ; the gentleman who offered it replied with warmth, 
that if it were so disposed of, he would never call it up 
again. It was laid upon the table, and has been heard of no 
more. 

3F 35* 



114 PATRICK HENRY. 

Thus lived, and thus died, the celebrated Patrick Henry 
of Virginia ; a man who justly deserves to be ranked among 
the highest ornaments and noblest benefactors of his country. 
Had his lot been cast in the republics of Greece or Rome, 
his name would have been enrolled by some immortal pen, 
among the expellers of tyrants and the champions of liberty : 
the proudest monuments of national gratitude would have 
risen to his honour, and handed down his memory to future 
generations. As it is, his fame, as yet, is left to rest upon 
tradition, and on that short notice which general history can 
take of him ; while no memorial, no slab even, raised by the 
hand of national gratitude, points us to his grave, or tells 
where sleep the ashes of the patriot and the sage. May we 
not hope, that this reproach upon the state will soon be 
wiped away, and that ample atonement will be made for our 
past neglect ^ 



CONCLUSION. 



i 



CONCLUSION. 

Mr. Henry, by his two marriages, was the father of fif- 
teen children. By his first wife he had six, of whom two 
only survived him ; by his last, he had six sons and three 
daughters, all of whom, together with their mother, were 
living at his death. 

He had been fortunate during the latter part of his life ; 
and, chiefly by the means of judicious purchases of lands, 
had left his family, large as it was, not only independent, 
but rich. 

In his habits of living, he was rem-arkably temperate and 
frugal. He seldom drank any thing but water ; and his 
table, though abundantly spread, was furnished only with the 
most simple viands. Necessity had imposed those habits 
upon him in the earlier part of his life ; and use, as well as 
reason, now made them his choice. 

His children were raised with little or no restraint. He 
seems not to have thought very highly of early education. 
It is indeed probable, that his own success, which was attri- 
butable almost entirely to the natural powers of his mind, 
had diminished the importance of an extensive education in 
his view. But although they were suffered to run wild for 
some years, and, indeed, committed to the sole guidance of 
nature, to a much later period than usual, yet they were 
finally all well educated ; and not only by the reflected worth 
of their father, but by their own merits, have always occu- 
pied a most respectable station in soqiety. 

3 G 417 



418 WIRT S LIFE OF 

Mr. Henry's conversation was remarkably pure and chaste. 
He never swore. He was never heard to take the name ol 
his Maker in vain. He was a sincere Christian, though after 
a form of his own ; for he was never attached to any par- 
ticular religious society, and never, it is believed, communed 
with any church. A friend who visited him not long before 
his death, found him engaged in reading the Bible : — " Here," 
said he, holding it up, " is a book worth more than all 
the other books that were ever printed : yet it is my misfor- 
tune never to have found time to read it, with the proper 
attention and feeling, till lately. I trust in the mercy of 
Heaven, that it is not yet too late." He was much pleased 
with Soame Jenyns' view of the internal evidences of the 
Christian religion; so much so, that about the year 1790, 
he had an impression of it struck at his own expense, and 
distributed among the people. His other favourite works on 
the subject were Doddridge's " Rise and Progress of Religion 
in the Soul," and Butler's " Analogy of Religion, Natural 
and Revealed." This latter work, he used at one period of 
his life to style, by way of pre-eminence, his Bible. The 
selection proves not only the piety of his temper, but the 
correctness of his taste, and his relish for profound and vig- 
orous disquisition. 

His morals were strict. As a husband, a father, a master, 
he had no superior. He was kind and hospitable to the 
stranger, and most friendly and accommodating to his neigh- 
bours. In his dealings with the world, he was faithful to 
his promise, and punctual in his contracts, to the utmost of 
his power. 

Yet we do not claim for him a total exemption from the 
failures of humanity. Moral perfection is not the property 
of man. The love of money is said to have been one of 



PATRICK HENRY. 419 

Mr. Henry's strongest passions. In his desire for accumula- 
tion, he was charged with wringing from the hands of his 
chents, and more particularly those of the criminals whom 
he defended, fees rather too exorbitant. He was censured, 
loo, for an attempt to locate the shores of the Chesapeake, 
which had heretofore been used as a public common, al- 
though there was, at that time, no law of the state which 
protected them from location. In one of his earlier pur- 
chases of land, he was blamed also for having availed himself 
of the existing laws of the state, in paying for it in the de- 
preciated paper-currency of the country ; nor was he free 
from censure on account of some participation which he is 
said to have had in the profits of the Yazoo trade. He was 
accused, too, of having been rather more vain of his wealth, 
toward the close of his life, than became a man so great in 
other respects. Let these things be admitted, and " let the 
man who is without fault cast the first stone." In mitiga- 
tion of these charges, if they be true, it ought to be considered 
that Mr. Henry had been, during the greater part of his life, 
intolerably oppressed by poverty and all its distressing train 
of consequences ; that the family for which he had to pro- 
vide was very large ; and that the bar, although it has been 
called the road to honour, was not in those days the road to 
wealth. With these considerations in view, charity may 
easily pardon him for having considered only the legality 
of the means which he used to acquire an independence ; 
and she can easily excuse him too, for having felt the suc- 
cess of his endeavours a little more sensibly than might 
have been becoming. He was certainly neither proud, nor 
hard-hearted, nor penurious : if he was either, there can be 
no reliance on human testimony ; which represents him as 
being, in his general intercourse with the world, not only ri- 



420 WIRTSLIFEOF 

gidly honest, but one of the kindest, gentlest, and most indul- 
gent of human beings. 

While we are on this ungrateful subject of moral imper- 
fection, the fidelity of history requires us to notice another 
charge against Mr. Henry. His passion for fame is said to 
have been too strong ; he was accused of a wish to monopo- 
lize the public favour ; and under the influence of this de- 
sire, to have felt no gratification in the rising fame of certain 
conspicuous characters ; to have indulged himself in invidious 
and unmerited remarks upon them, and to have been at 
the bottom of a cabal against one of the most eminent. If 
these things were so — alas ! poor human nature ! It is cer- 
tain that these charges are very inconsistent with his general 
character. So far from being naturally envious, and dis- 
posed to keep back modest merit, one of the finest traits in 
his character was, the parental tenderness with which he 
took by the hand every young man of merit, covered him 
with his segis in the legislature, and led him forward at the 
bar. In relation to his first great rival in eloquence, Richard 
Henry Lee, he not only did ample justice to him on every 
occasion, in public, but defended his fame in private, with all 
the zeal of a brother ; as is demonstrated by an original cor- 
respondence between those two eminent men, now in the 
hands of the author. Of Colonel Innis, his next great rival, 
he entertained, and uniformly expressed, the most exalted 
opinion; and in the convention of 1788, as will be remem- 
bered, paid a compliment to his eloquence, at once so splen- 
did, so happy, and so just, that it will live for ever. The 
debates of that convention abound with the most unequivocal 
and ardent declarations of his respect, for the talents and 
virtues of the other eminent gentlemen who were arrayed 
against him — Mr. Madison — Mr. Pendleton — Mr. Randolph. 



PATRICK HENRY. 421 

Even the justly great and overshadowing fame of Mr. Jeffer- 
son never extorted from him, in pubhc at least, one invidious 
remark ; on the contrary, the name of that gentleman, who 
was then in France, having been introduced into the debates 
of the convention, for the purpose of borrowing the weight 
of his opinion, Mr. Henry spoke of him in the strongest and 
warmest terms, not only of admiration but of affection — 
styling him " our illustrious felloiu-citizen" — " our enlight- 
ened and ivorthy countryman,^'' — " our common friend P 

The inordinate love of money and of fame are, certainly, 
base and degrading passions. They have sometimes tar- 
nished characters otherwise the most bright ; but they will 
find no advocate or apologist in any virtuous bosom. In re- 
lation to Mr. Henry, however, we may be permitted to doubt 
whether the facts on which these censures (so inconsistent 
with his general character) are grounded, have not been mis- 
conceived ; and whether so much of them as is really true, 
may not be fairly charged to the common account of human 
imperfection. 

Mr. Henry's great intellectual defect was his indolence. 
To this it was owing, that he never possessed that admirable 
alertness and vigorous versatility of mind, which turns 
promptly to every thing, attends to every thing, arranges 
every thing, and by systematizing its operations, despatches 
each in its proper time, and place, and manner. To the 
same cause it is to be ascribed, that he never possessed that 
patient drudgery, and that ready, neat, copious, and mas- 
terly command of details, which forms so essential a part of 
the duties both of the statesman and the lawyer. Hence, 
too, he did not avail himself of the progress of science and 
literature, in his age. He had not, as he might have done, 
amassed those ample stores of various, useful, and curious 

36 



422 WIRT S LIFE OF 

knowledge, which are so naturally expected to be found in 
a great man. His library (of which an inventory has been 
furnished to the author) was extremely small ; composed 
not only of a very few books, but those, too, commonly odd 
volumes. Of science and literature, he knew little or nothing 
more than was occasionally gleaned from conversation. It 
is not easy to conceive, what a mind like his might have 
achieved in either, or both of these walks, had it been prop- 
erly trained at first, or industriously occupied in those long 
intervals of leisure which he threw away. One thing, how- 
ever, may be safely pronounced ; that had that mind of 
Herculean strength been either so trained, or so occupied, he 
would have left behind him some written monument, com- 
pared with which, even statues and pillars would have been 
but the ephemerae of a day. But he seems to have been of 
Hobbes's opinion, who is reported to have said of himself, 
" that if he had read as much as other men, he should have 
been as ignorant as they were."* Mr. Henry's book was 
the great volume of human nature. In this, he was more 
deeply read than any of his countrymen. He knew men 
thoroughly; and hence arose his great power of persuasion.! 
His preference of this study, is manifested by the following 
incident : — he met once, in a bookstore, with the late Mr. 
Ralph Wormley, who, although a great bookworm, was in- 
finitely more remarkable for his ignorance of men, than Mr. 
Henry was for that of books. — " What, Mr. Wormle)^" said 
he, " still buying books ?" " Yes," said Mr. Wormley, " I 
have just heard of a new work, which I am extremely 

* Bayle : article Hobbes. 

t " It is in vain," says the Chancellor D'Aguesseau, " that the orator 
flatters himself with having the talent to persuade men, if he has not 
acquired that of knowing them." Discourse i., p. 1. 



PATRICK HENRY. 423 

anxious to peruse." " Take my word for it, ' said he, " Mr. 
Wormley, we are too old to read books : read men — they 
are the only vohime that we can peruse to advantage." But 
Mr. Henry might have perused both, with infinite advantage, 
not only to himself, but to his country, and to the world ; 
and that he did not do it, may, it is believed, be fairly as- 
cribed, rather to the indolence of his temper, than the delibe- 
rate decision of his judgment. 

Judge Winston says, that " he was, throughout life, neg- 
ligent of his dress :" but this, it is apprehended, applied ra- 
ther to his habits in the country, than to his appearance in 
public. At the bar of the general court, he always appeared 
in a full suit of black cloth, or velvet, and a tie wig, which 
was dressed and powdered in the highest style of forensic 
fashion ; in the winter season, too, according to the costume of 
the day, he wore over his other apparel an ample cloak of scar- 
let cloth ; and thus attired, made a figure bordering on gran- 
deur. While he filled the executive chair, he is said to have 
been justly attentive to his dress and appearance ; " not 
being disposed to afford the occasion of humiliating compari- 
sons between the past and present government." 

He had long since, too, laid aside the offensive rusticity of 
his juvenile manners. His manners, indeed, were still unos- 
tentatious, frank, and simple ; but they had all that natural 
ease and unaffected gracefulness, which distinguish the cir- 
cles of the polite and wellbred. On occasions, too, where 
state and ceremony were expected, there was no man who 
could act better his part. I have had a description of Mr. 
Henry, entering, in the full dress which I have mentioned, 
the hall of delegates, at whose bar he was about to appear 
as an advocate, and saluting the house, all around, with a 
dignity and even majesty, that would have done honour to 



424 WIRT S LIFE OF 

the most polished courtier in Europe. This, however, was 
only on extraordinary occasions, when such a deportment 
was expected, and was properly in its place. In gene- 
ral, his manners were those of the plain Virginian gentle- 
man — kind — open — candid — and conciliating — warm with- 
out insincerity, and polite without pomp — neither chilling by 
his reserve, nor fatiguing by his loquacity — but adapting 
himself, without an effort, to the character of his company. 
*' He would be pleased and cheerful," says a correspondent, 
" with persons of any class or condition, vicious and aban- 
doned persons only excepted ; he preferred those of character 
and talents, but would be amused with any who could con- 
tribute to his amusement." He had himself a vem of pleas- 
antry, which was extremely amusing, without detracting 
from his dignity. His companions, although perfectly at 
their ease with him, were never known to treat him with 
degrading familiarities. Their love and their respect for him 
equally forbade it. Nor had they any dread of an assault 
upon their feelings ; for there was nothing cruel in his wit. 
The tomahawk and scalping-knife were no part of his collo- 
quial apparatus. He felt no pleasure in seeing the victim 
writhe under his stroke. The benignity of his spirit could 
not have borne such a sight without torture. He found him- 
self happiest in communicating happiness to others. His con- 
versation was instructive and delightful ; stately where it 
should be so, but in general, easy, familiar, spriglitly, and 
entertaining ; always, however, good-humoured, and calculated 
to amuse without wounding. 

As a specimen of this light and good-natured pleasantry, 
the following anecdote has been furnished : Mr. Henry, to- 
gether with Mr. Richard H. Lee, and several other conspic- 
uous members of the assembly, were invited to pass the even- 



PATRICK HENRY. 425 

ing and night at the liouse of Mr. Edmund Randolph, in the 
neighbourhood of Richmond. Mr. Lee, who was as bril- 
liant and copious in conversation as in debate, had amused 
the company to a very late hour, by descanting on the genius 
of Cervantes, particularly as exhibited in his chef d' ceuvre, 
Don Quixote. The dissertation had been continued rather 
too long : the company began to yawn, when Mr. Henry, 
who had observed it, although Mr. Lee had not, rose slowly 
from his chair, and remarked as he walked across the room, 
that Don Quixote was certainly a most excellent work, and 
most skilfully adapted to the purpose of the author : " but," 
said he, " Mr. Lee," stopping before him, with a most signifi- 
cant archness of look, " you have overlooked, in your eulogy, 
one of the finest things in the book." " What is that ?" 
asked Mr. Lee. " It is," said Mr. Henry, " that divine ex- 
clamation of Sancho, ' Blessed he the man that first invented 
sleep : it covers one all over, like a cloak.'' " Mr. Lee took 
the hint ; and the company broke up in good humour. 

His quick and true discernment of characters, and his 
prescience of political events, were very much admired. 
The following examples of each, have been furnished by 
Mr. Pope : — 

Mr, Gallatin came to Virginia when a very young man : 
he was obscure and unknown, and spoke the English lan- 
guage so badly, that it was with difficulty he could be un- 
derstood. He was engaged in some agency which made it 
necessary to present a petition to the assembly, and endeav- 
oured to mterest the leading members in its fate, by attempt- 
ing to explain, out of doors, its merits and justice. But they 
could not understand him well enough to feel any interest 
either for him or his petition. In this hopeless condition he 
waited on Mr. Henry, and soon felt that he was in different 
3 H 36 



426 WIRTSLIFEOF 

hands. Mr. Henry, on his part, was so dehghted with the 
interview, that he spoke of Mr. Gallatin every where in rap- 
tures — " he declared him, without hesitation, or doubt, to be 
the most sensible and best informed man he had ever con- 
versed with — he is to he sure,''^ said he, " a most astonish- 
ing man /" The reader well knows how eminently Mr. 
Gallatin has since fulfilled this character; and considering 
the very disadvantageous circumstances under which he was 
seen by Mr. Henry, it is certainly a striking proof of the su- 
perior sagacity of the observer. 

In relation to his political foresight, the following anecdote 
is in Mr. Pope's own words : — " In the year 1798, after 
Bonaparte had annihilated five Austrian armies, and, flushed 
with victory, was carrying away every thing before him, I 
heard Mr. Henry in a public company observe, (shaking his 
head after his impressive manner) — 'It won't all do ! the 
present generation in France is so debased by a long despo- 
tism, they possess so few of the virtues that constitute the 
life and soul of republicanism, that they are incapable of 
forming a correct and just estimate of rational liberty. Their 
revolution will terminate differently from what you expect — 
their state of anarchy will be succeeded by despotism ; and 
I should not be surprised, if the very man at whose victories 
you now rejoice, should, Cesar-like, subvert the liberties of 
his country. All who know me,' continued Mr. Henry, 
' know that I am a firm advocate for liberty and republi- 
canism ; I believe I have given some evidences of this. I 
wish it may not be so, but I am afraid the event will justify 
this prediction.' " 

The following is the fullest description which the author 
has been able to procure of Mr. Henry's person. He was 



PATRICK HENRY. 427 

nearly six feet high; spare, and what may be called raw- 
boned, with a slight stoop of the shoulders — his complexion 
was dark, sunburnt, and sallow, without any appearance of 
blood in his cheeks — his countenance grave, thoughtful, 
penetrating, and strongly marked with the lineaments of 
deep reflection — the earnestness of his manner, united with 
an habitual contraction or knitting of his brows, and those 
lines of thought with which his face was profusely furrowed, 
gave to his countenance, at some times, the appearance of 
severity — yet such was the power which he had over its ex- 
pression, that he could shake off from it in an instant, all 
the sternness of winter, and robe it in the brightest smiles 
of spring. His forehead was high and straight ; yet form- 
ing a sufficient angle with the lower part of his face — his 
nose somewhat of the Roman stamp, though like that which 
we see in the bust of Cicero, it was rather long, than re- 
markable for its Cesarean form — of the colour of his eyes, 
the accounts are almost as various as those which we have 
of the colour of the chameleon — they are said to have been 
blue, gray, what Lavater calls green, hazel, brown, and 
black — the fact seems to have been that they were of a blu- 
ish-gray, not large ; and being deeply fixed in his head, 
overhung by dark, long, and full eyebrows, and farther 
shaded by lashes that were both long and black, their appa- 
rent colour was as variable as the lights in which they were 
seen — but all concur in saying.that they were, unquestionably, 
the finest feature in his face — brilliant — full of spirit, and 
capable of the most rapidly-shifting and powerful expres- 
sion — at one time piercing and terrible as those of Mars, and 
then again soft and tender as those of Pity herself — his 
cheeks were hollow — his chin long, but well formed, and 
rounded at the end, so as to form a proper counterpart to tlie 



428 WIRTSLIFEOF 

upper part of his face. " I find it difficult," says the cor- 
respondent from whom I have borrowed this portrait, " to 
describe his mouth ; in which there was nothing remarka- 
ble, except when about to express a modest dissent from 
some opinion on which he was commenting — he then had 
a sort of half-smile, in which the want of conviction was 
-perhaps more strongly expressed, than the satirical emo- 
tion, which probably prompted it. His manner and ad- 
dress to the court and jury might be deemed the excess of 
humility, diffidence, and modesty. If, as rarely happened, 
he had occasion to answer any remark from the bench, it 
was impossible for Meekness herself to assume a manner 
less presumptuous — but in the smile of which T have been 
speaking, you might anticipate the want of conviction, ex- 
pressed in his answer, at the moment that he submitted to 
the superior wisdom of the court, with a grace that would 
have done honour to Westminster hall. In his reply to coun- 
sel, his remarks on the evidence, and on the conduct of the 
parties, he preserved the same distinguished deference and 
politeness, still accompanied, however, by the never-failing 
index of this skeptical smile, where the occasion prompt- 
ed." In short, his features were manly, bold, and well pro- 
portioned, full of intelligence, and adapting themselves intu- 
itively to every sentiment of his mind, and every feeling of 
his heart. His voice was not remarkable for its sweetness ; 
but it was firm, of full volume, and rather melodious than 
otherwise. Its charms consisted in the mellowness and ful- 
ness of its note, the ease and variety of its inflections, the 
distinctness of its articulation, the fine effect of its emphasis, 
the felicity with which it attuned itself to every emotion, and 
the vast compass which enabled it to range through the whole 
empire of human passion, from the deep and tragic half 



PATRICK HENRY. 429 

whisper of horror, to the wildest exclamation of overwhelm- 
ing rage. In mild persuasion, it was as soft and gentle as 
the zephyr of spring ; while in rousing his countrjnnaen to 
arms, the winter storm that roars along the troubled Baltic, 
was not more awfully sublime. It was at all times perfectly 
under his command ; or rather, indeed, it seemed to com- 
mand itself and to modulate its notes, most happily to the 
sentiment he was uttering. It never exceeded, or fell short 
of the occasion. There was none of that long-continued and 
deafening vociferation, which always takes place when an 
ardent speaker has lost possession of himself — no monoto- 
nous clangour, no discordant shriek. Without being strain- 
ed, it had that body and enunciation which filled the most 
distant ear, without distressing those which were nearest 
him : hence it never became cracked or hoarse, even in his 
longest speeches, but retained to the last all its clearness and 
fulness of intonation, all the delicacy of its inflection, all 
the charms of its emphasis, and enchanting variety of its 
cadence. 

His delivery was perfectly natural and well timed. It has 
indeed been said, that, on his first rising, there was a species 
of sub-cantus very observable by a stranger, and rather dis- 
agreeable to him ; but that in a very few moments even this 
itself became agreeable, and seemed, indeed, indispensable to 
the full effect of his peculiar diction and conceptions. In 
point of time, he was very happy : there was no slow and 
heavy dragging, no quaint and measured drawling, with 
equidistant pace, no stumbling and floundering among the 
fractured members of deranged and broken periods, n un- 
dignified hurry and trepidation, no recalling and recasting of 
sentences as he went along, no retraction of one word and 
substitution of another not better, and none of those affected 



430 W I R T S L I F E O F 

bursts of almost inarticulate impetuosity, which betray the 
rhetorician rather than display the orator. On the contrary, 
ever self-collected, deliberate and dignified, he seemed to 
have looked through the whole period before he commenced 
its delivery ; and hence his delivery was smooth, and firm, 
and well accented ; slow enough to take along with him the 
dullest hearer, and yet so commanding, that the quick had 
neither the power nor the disposition to get the start of him. 
Thus he gave to every thought its full and appropriate force ; 
and to every image all its radiance and beauty. 

No speaker ever understood better than Mr. Henry, the 
true use and power of the pause : and no one ever prac- 
tised it with happier effect. His pauses were never resorted 
to for the purpose of investing an insignificant thought with 
false importance ; much less were they ever resorted to as a 
finesse, to gain time for thinking. The hearer was never 
disposed to ask, " why that pause ?" nor to measure its 
■duration by a reference to his watch. On the contrary, it 
always came at the very moment, when he would himself 
have wished it, in order to weigh the striking and important 
thought which had just been uttered ; and the interval was 
always filled by the speaker with a matchless energy of look, 
which drove the thought home tlirough the mind and through 
the heart. 

His gesture, and this varying play of his features and voice, 
were so excellent, so exquisite, that many have referred his 
power as an orator principally to that cause ; yet this was all 
his own, and his gesture, particularly, of so peculiar a cast, 
that it is said it would have become no other man. I do not 
learn that it was very abundant ; for there was no trash 
about it ; none of those false motions to which undisciplined 
speakers are so generally addicted ; no chopping nor sawing 



PATRICK HENRY. 431 

of the air; no thumping of the bar to express an earnest- 
ness, which was much more powerfully, as well as more ele- 
gantly expressed by his eye and his countenance. When- 
ever he moved his arm, or his hand, or even his finger, or 
changed the position of his body, it was always to some pur- 
pose ; nothing was inefiicient ; every thing told ; every ges- 
ture, every attitude, every look was emphatic ; all was ani- 
mation, energy, and dignity. Its great advantage consisted 
in this — that various, bold, and original as it was, it never 
appeared to be studied, affected, or theatrical, or " to over- 
step," in the sm.allest degree, " the modesty of nature ;" for 
he never made a gesture, or assumed an attitude, which did 
not seem imperiously demanded by the occasion. Every 
look, every motion, every pause, every start, was completely 
filled and dilated by the thought which he was uttering, and 
seemed indeed to form a part of the thought itself. His ac- 
tion, however strong, was never vehement. He was never 
seen rushing forward, shoulder foremost, fury in his counte- 
nance, and phrensy in his voice, as if to overturn the bar, and 
charge his audience sword in hand. His judgment was too 
manly and too solid, and his taste too true, to permit him to 
indulge in any such extravagance. His good sense and his 
self-possession never deserted him. In the loudest storm of 
declamation, in the fiercest blaze of passion, there was a dig- 
nity and temperance which gave it seeming. He had the 
rare faculty of imparting to his hearers all the excess of his 
own feelings, and all the violence and tumult of his emo- 
tions, all the dauntless spirit of his resolution, and all the 
energy of his soul, without any sacrifice of his own personal 
dignity, and without treating his hearers otherwise than as 
rational beings. He was not the orator of a day ; and there- 
fore sought not to build his fame on the sandy basis of a 



432 WIRTSLIFEOF 

false taste, fostered, if not created, by himself. He spoke 
for immortality ; and therefore raised the pillars of his glory 
on the only solid foundation — the rock of Nature. 

So much has been already said, incidentally, of his attain- 
ments, and the character of his mind, both as a statesman 
and an orator, that little remains to be added in a general 
way. As a statesman, the quality which strikes us most is 
liis political intrepidity : and yet it has sometimes been ob- 
jected to him, that he waited on every occasion, to see which 
way the popular current was sitting, when he would artfully 
throw himself into it, and seem to guide its course. Nothing 
can be more incorrect : it would be easy to multiply proofs to 
refute the charge ; — but I shall content myself with a few 
which are of general notoriety. 

1. The American revolution is universally admitted to 
have begun in the upper circles of society. It turned on 
principles too remote and abstruse for vulgar apprehension or 
consideration. Had it depended on the unenlightened mass 
of the com.munity, no doubt can be entertained at this day, 
that the tax imposed by parliament would have been paid 
without h question. Since, then, the upper circle of society 
did not take its impulse from the people, the only remaining 
inquiry is, who gave the revolutionary impulse to that circle 
itself? It was unquestionably Patrick Henry. This is af- 
firmed by Mr. Jefferson ; it is demonstrated by the resistance 
given to Mr. Henry's measures, by those who were afterward 
the stanchest friends of the revolution ; it is farther proved, 
by the sentiment before noticed, with which Doctor Franklin 
(who was then considered as the first American statesman) 
dismissed Mr. IngersoU, on his departure from London ; a 
sentiment, which evinces beyond doubt, that Doctor Franklin 



P A T R I C K H E N R Y . 433 

considered resistance to the British power to be, at that time, 
premature ; and finally, this honour is assigned to Mr. Henry, 
I perceive, by a late interesting historian of Massachusetts, 
the only state which has ever pretended to dispute the palm 
with Virginia.* On this great occasion, then, it is manifest, 
that he did not wait for the popular current ; but on the con- 
trary, that it was he alone, who, by his single power moved 
the mighty mass of stagnant waters, and changed the silent 
lake into a roaring torrent. When it is remembered too, that 
he was then young and obscure, and of course without per- 
sonal influence — that this step was the result of his own 
solitary reflection, and that he was perfectly aware of the 
personal danger which must attend it — we can require 
nothing farther to satisfy us, that he was a bold, original, in- 
dependent politician, who thought for himself, and pursued 
the dictates of his own judgment, wholly regardless of per- 
sonal consequences. 

* The historian to whom I allude, is Mrs. Mercy Warren, who is said 
to be the widow of the celebrated Gen. Warren, the hero of Bunker's 
Hill. These are her words : — " The house of burgesses of Virginia 
were the first Avho formally resolved against the encroachments of pow- 
er, and the unwarrantable designs of the British parliament. The nov- 
elty of their procedure, and the boldness of spirit that marked the 
resolutions of that assembly, at once astonished and disconcerted the 
oflicers of the crown, and the supporters of the measures of adminis- 
tration. These resolutions were ushered into the house on the thirtieth 
of May, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, by Patrick Henry, 
Esq., a young gentleman of the law, till then unknown in political life. 
He was a man possessed of strong powers, much professional know- 
ledge, and of such abilities as qualified him for the exigencies of the 
day. Fearless of the cry of treason, echoed against him from several 
quarters, he justified the measure and supported the resolves, in a 
speech that did honour both to his understanding and his patriotism," 
&.C. Mrs.Warren's History of the American Revolution^ vol. i., p.28. 
3 1 37 



434 WIRT S LIFE OF 

2. Again, in the spring of 1775, that upper circle, which 
still headed the revolution, were disposed to acquiesce in the 
plunder of the magazine, and exerted their utmost efforts to 
allay the ferment which it had excited. They had, in fact, 
succeeded ; and the people were every where composed, save 
within the immediate sphere of Mr. Henry's influence. The 
reader has already seen, that it was he who on that occasion 
excited the people, not who was excited by them ; that he 
put them into motion, and avowed to his confidential friends, 
at the time, the motives of policy by which he was actuated ; 
that he placed himself at the head of an armed band, which 
he had himself convened for the purpose ; and in spite of the 
entreaties and supplications of the patriots at Williamsburg, 
and in defiance of the threats of Dunmore and his myrmi- 
dons, pressed firmly and intrepidly on, until the object of his 
expedition was completely obtained. 

3. So also in the state convention, the same year, the old 
patriotic leaders were disposed still to rely on the efficacy of 
petitions, memorials, and remonstrances ; it was Mr, Henry 
who proposed, and in spite of their opposition (which was of 
so strenuous and serious a character, that one of them in 
making it, is said to have shed tears most profusely) carried 
the bold measure of arming the mihtia. This was not dic- 
tated by the people. The fact was, that at that day, the 
people placed themselves in the hands of their more enlight- 
ened friends ; they never ventured to prescribe either the 
time, the manner, or the measure of resistance ; and there 
can be no room for a candid doubt that, but for the bold 
spirit and overpowering eloquence of Patrick Henry, the 
people would have followed the pacific counsels of Mr. Ran- 
dolph, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Pendleton, Mr. Wythe, and other 



PATRICK HENRY. 435 

men of acknowledged talents and virtue. It was Mr. Henry, 
therefore, who led both the people and their former leaders. 
The latter, indeed, came on so reluctantly at first, that they 
may be said to have been rather dragged along than led ; 
they did come, however, and acquiring warmth by their 
motion, made ample amends thereafter for their early hesi- 
tation.* 

4. About the close of the war, again, when he proposed 
to permit the return of that obnoxious class of men called 
British refugees and Scotch tories, did he follow the popular 
current ? So far from it, that he stemmed the current, and 
turned back its course, by the power of his resistance. 

5. So in the case of the federal constitution, whither did 
ihe current of the American people tend ? Most certainly to 
its adoption ; yet Mr. Henry, to use his own language, 
" with manly firmness, and in spite of an erring world," 

* The author has no intention, by these remarks, to impair in the 
smallest degree, the well-earned reputation of those veteran states- 
men. They had commenced the opposition to the stamp act, and the 
other obnoxious acts of the British parliament, before Mr. Henry made 
his appearance as a politician ; they had commenced it too, on the 
same grounds, and would, probably, at some later period, have been 
wrought up by their own principles and feelings, to a forcible resist- 
ance to those measures. But the statements in the text are unques- 
tionably correct ; they did not approve of the immediate application 
of force ; Mr. Henry's policy was condemned by them as rash and 
precipitate. The author is in possession of an original letter from 
one of these statesmen, in which Mr. Henry is expressly and directly 
accused of having precipitated the revolution, against the judgment 
of the older and cooler patriots. " Events, however," as we have 
seen, " favoured the bolder measures of Mr. Henry," and proved his 
policy to be the best. 



436 WIRTSLIFEOF 

with the revered Washington too at their head, opposed its 
adoption with all the powers of his eloquence. 

The truth seems to be, that this charge is only a vari- 
ation of that conveyed by the opprobrious epithets of dema- 
gogue and factious tribune, which we have seen that his 
rivals long since sought to fasten upon him ; and there can 
be little doubt, that it proceeded from the writhings and con- 
tortions of the same agonized envy. . That a poor young 
man, issuing from his native woods, unknown, unfriended, 
and comparatively unlettered, should have been able, by the 
mere force of unassisted nature, to break to pieces the strong 
political confederacy which then ruled the country, to anni- 
hilate all the arts and finesse of parliamentary intrigue ; to 
eclipse, by his sagacity, the experience of age ; and, by the 
sole strength of his native genius, to throw into the shade all 
the hard-earned attainments of literature and science, was 
entirely too hiuniliating to be borne in silence. It was neces- 
sary, therefore, to resort to some solution of this phenomenon 
which should at once reduce the honours of this plebeian up 
start, and soothe the wounded feelings of those whose pride 
he had brought down. Hence it became fashionable, in the 
higher circles, to speak of Mr. Henry as a designing dema- 
gogue, a factious tribune, who carried his points, not by 
fair and open debate, but by violent and inflammatory ap- 
peals to the worst passions of the multitude ; and who fre- 
quently gave himself the air of leading the people, when in 
truth, he was merely following their own blind lead. This 
cant has had its day, and its propagators. Truth has set 
the subject to rights. Mr. Henry is alleged, by those who 
had the best opportunities of knowing him, to have been not 
inferior, either in public or in private virtue, to any patriot of 
the revolution : and he was confessedly superior to them all, 



PATRICK HENRY. 437 

in that combination of bold, hardy, adventurous, splendid, 
and solid qualifications, which are so peculiarly fitted to 
revolutionary times. 

" He left," says Judge Winston, " no manuscripts." This 
vi^as to have been expected. We have seen that he could 
not bear the labour of writing ; nor, indeed, of that long-con- 
tinued, coherent, and methodical thinking, without which no 
successful composition, of any extent, can be produced. He 
thought, indeed, a great deal ; but his thinking was too de- 
sultory and irregular to take the form of composition. His 
mind had never been disciplined to wait upon his pen — it 
still moved on — and its prismatic beauties were as evanes- 
cent as ihey were beautiful. His imagination " bodied forth 
the forms of things" much more rapidly, than his unpractised 
pen could " turn them to shapes ;" and it is not improbable, 
that his own observation of the difference between the vigour 
with which he thought, and the comparative decrepitude 
with which he wrote, disgusted him with his first attempts, 
and prevented their repetition. 

Yet this habit which he had of thinking for himself, and 
looking directly at every subject, with the natural eyes of his 
understanding, without using what has been called the spec- 
tacles of books, was perhaps of advantage to him, both as a 
statesman and an orator : as a statesman, it possibly exempt- 
ed him from that common error of scientific theorists, of 
forcing resemblances between the present and some past his- 
torical era, and accomodating their measures to this ima- 
ginary identity ; by his mode of considering subjects, no 
circumstance was either sunk, or magnified, or distorted, in 
order to bend the case to a fanciful hypothesis ; nor, in deci- 
ding what was proper to be done in America, did he look to 
see what had been found expedient at Athens or Rome. On 

37* 



438 WIRT S LIFE OF 

the contrary, knowing well the people with whom he had to 
deal, of what they were capable, and what was necessary 
to their happiness, how much they could bear, and how much 
achieve, and looking immediately at the subject, (whatever 
it might be,) with that piercing vision, that solid judgment 
and ready resource, which characterized his mind — he seem- 
ed to seize, in every case, rather " luckily than laboriously," 
the course which of all others was surest of success. In 
short, this habit made him an original, sound, and practical 
statesman, instead of being a learned, dreaming, and vision- 
ary theorist. Not that Mr. Henry was deficient in historical 
knowledge ; he had enough of it for all the useful purposes 
either of analogy or illustration ; but he never permitted it 
to intercept his proper view of the subject, or to take the lead 
in suggesting what was fit to be done. This he chose ra- 
ther to derive from the nature of the case itself, and the 
character of the people among whom that case occurred. 

This habit of relying more on his own meditations than 
on books, was also, perhaps, of service to him as an orator : 
for by this course, he avoided the beaten paths and roads of 
thought ; and instead of exhibiting in his speeches old ideas 
newly vamped up, and ancient beauties trickled off in 
modern tinsel, his arguments, sentiments, and figures, had 
all that freshness and novelty which are so universally cap- 
tivating. 

Tn what did his peculiar excellence as an orator consist ? 
in what consisted that mirivalled power of speaking, which 
all who ever heard him admit him to have possessed ? The 
reader is already apprized, that the author of these sketche?. 
never had the advantage of hearing Mr. Henrj'-, and that no 
entire speech of his was ever extant, either in print or wri 
ting : hence, there are no materials for minuie and exact 



PATRICK HENRY. 439 

analysis. The inquiry, however, is natural, and has been di- 
rected, without success, to many of the most discriminating 
of" Mr. Henry's admirers. Their answers are as various as 
the complexion of their own characters ; each preferring that 
property from which he had himself derived the most enjoy- 
ment. Some ascribe his excellence wholly to his manner . 
others, in great part, to the originality and soundness of his 
matter. And among the admirers, in both classes, there are 
not two who concur in assigning the pre-eminence to the 
same quality. Of his matter, one will admire the plainness 
and strength of his reasoning ; another, the concentrated 
spirit of his aphorisms ; a third, his wit ; a fourth, his pathos; 
a fifth, the intrinsic beauty of his imagination : so in regard 
to his manner, one will place his excellence in his articula- 
tion and emphasis ; a second, in the magic power with which 
he infused the tones of his voice into the nerves of his hear- 
ers, and riveted their attention. The truth, therefore, proba- 
bly is, that it was not in any single charm, either of matter 
or manner, that we are to look for the secret of his power ; 
but that, Hke Pope's definition of beauty, it was " the joint 
force and full result of all." 

If, however, we are to consider as really and entirely his, 
those speeches which have been already given in his name 
to the public, or are now prepared for them, there can be no 
difficulty in deciding, that his power must have consisted 
principally in his delivery. We know what extraordinary 
effects have been produced by the mere manner of an orator, 
without any uncommon weight or worth of matter.* We 

* " Friar Narni, a capuchin, was so remarkable for his eloquence, 
that his hearers, after a sermon, cried out mercy in the streets, as he 
passed home : and thirty bishops, starting up under a discourse, hur- 
ried home to their respective diocesses : yet, when his sermons came to 



440 WIRT S LIFE OF 

have the authority, however, of those who heard the identical 
speeches now professed to be given as his, for declaring, that 
they arc an extremely imperfect representation of them ; 
and their ability to correct them so frequently from memory, 
establishes the fact, that it was not the charm of delivery 
merely, which constituted the difference between the report 
and the original. This is not the only instance in which 
a great orator has been injured, by imperfect attempts to 
represent him : for (to say nothing of those modern proofs, 
which will easily occur to the reader) we are told, that the 
great Pericles himself met with a similar fate.* Candour 
and justice, however, require us to repeat, that Mr. Robert- 
son's reports are unquestionable, in point of good faith ; and 
that they are highly valuable, on account of the accuracy and 
fidelity with which they are believed to have preserved the 
substance of the debates. It is with extreme regret that the 
author has made a single comment to their disadvantage ; but 
justice to Mr. Henry has made it indispensable. 

The basis of Mr. Henry's intellectual character was strong 
natural sense. His knowledge of human nature was, as 
we have seen, consummate. His wisdom was that of obser- 
vation, rather than of reading. His fancy, although suffi- 
ciently pregnant to furnish supplies for the occasion, was not 

be pubUshed, they were thought to be unworthy of his reputation ; 
which shows how much depends on action ; and how correct the say- 
ing of Demosthenes was on that subject." — Bayle. Article Narni. 

* "Some harangues of Pericles were still extant in Q,uintilian's 
time ; but that learned rhetorician, finding them disproportioned to 
the high reputation of this great man, approved the opinion of those 
who looked upon them as a supposititious work. An indifferent 
harangue, however, being recited by an excellent orator, may charm 
the hearers. Action is almost all." — Bayle. Article Pericles. 



PATRICK HENRY. 441 

SO exuberant as to oppress him with its productions. He was 
never guilty of the fault, with which Corinna is said to have 
reproached her rival Pindar, of pourmg his vase of flowers 
all at once upon the ground ; on the contrary, their beauty 
and their excellence were fully observed, from their rarity, 
and the happiness with which they were distributed through 
his speeches. His feelings were strong, yet completely under 
his command ; they rose up to the occasion, but were never 
suffered to overflow it ; his language was often careless, 
sometimes incorrect ; yet upon the whole it was pure and 
perspicuous, giving out his thoughts in full and clear propor- 
tion ; free from affectation, and frequently beautiful ; strong 
without effort, and adapted to the occasion ; nervous in argu- 
ment, burning in passion, and capable of matching the lof- 
tiest flights of his genius. 

It may perhaps assist the reader's conception of Mr. Hen- 
ry's peculiar cast of eloquence, to state the points in which 
he differed from some other orators. Those which distin- 
guished him from Mr. Lee have been already exhibited. 
Colonel Innis's manner was also very different. His habitual 
indolence followed him into debate ; he generally contented 
himself with a single view of his subject ; but that was 
given with irresistible power. His eloquence was indeed a 
mighty and a roaring torrent ; it had not, however, that prop- 
erty of Horace's stream, lahitur et lahetur, in omne volu- 
hilis cevum — on the contrary, it commonly ran by in half 
an hour. But it bore a striking resemblance to the eloquence 
of Lord Chatham ; it was a short but bold and most terrible 
assault — a vehement, impetuous and overwhelming burst — 
a magnificent meteor, which shot majestically across the 
heavens, from pole to pole, and straight expired in a glorious 
blaze. 
3K 



442 WIRTS LIFE OF 

Mr. Henry, on the contrary, however mdolent in his gene- 
ral Hfe, was never so in debate, where the occasion called for 
exertion. He rose against the pressure, with the most un- 
conquerable perseverance. He held his subject up in every 
light in which it could be placed ; yet always with so much 
power, and so much beauty, a" never to weary his audience, 
but on the contrary to delight them. He had more art than 
Col. Innis : he appealed to every motive of interest — ^urged 
every argument that could convince — pressed every theme 
of persuasion — awakened every feeling, and roused every 
passion to his aid. He had more variety, too, in his manner ; 
sometimes he was very little above the tone of conversation ; 
at others, in the highest strain of epic sublimity. His course 
was of longer continuance — his flights better sustained, and 
more diversified, both in their direction, and velocity. He 
rose like the thunder-bearer of Jove, when he mounts on 
strong and untiring wing, to sport in fearless majesty over 
the troubled deep — now sweeping in immense and rapid cir- 
cles — then suddenly arresting his grand career, and hover- 
ing aloft in tremulous and terrible suspense — at one instant, 
plunged amid the foaming waves — at the next, reascending 
on high, to play undaunted among the lightnings of heaven, 
or soar toward the sun. 

He differed, too, from those orators of Great Britain, with 
whom we have become acquainted by their printed speeches. 
He had not the close method, and high polish of those of 
England; nor the exuberant imagery Avhich distinguishes 
those of Ireland. On the contrary, he was loose, irregular, de- 
sultory — sometimes rough and abrupt — careless in connect- 
ing the parts of his discourse, but grasping whatever he 
touched with gigantic strength. In short, he was the Or a- 



PATRICK HENRY. 4 13 

TOR OF Nature ; and such a one as Nature might not blush 
to avow. 

If the reader shall still demand how he acquired those 
wonderful powers of speaking which liavc ])een assigned to 
him, we can only answer, with Gray, that they were the 
gift of Heaven — the birthright of genius. 

" Thine too, these keys, immortal boy ! 
This can unlock the gates of joy ; 
Of horror, that, and thrilling fears, 
Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears." 

It has been said of Mr. Henry,* with inimitable felicity, 
that " he was Shakspeare and Garrick combined !" Let 
the reader then imagine the wonderful talents of those two 
m.en united in the same individual, and transferred from 
scenes of fiction to the business of real life, and he will 
have formed some conception of the eloquence of Patrick 
Henry. In a word, he was one of those perfect prodigies of 
Nature, of whom very few have been produced since the 
foundations of the earth were laid ; and of him may it be 
said, as truly as of any one that ever existed : — 

" He was a man, take him for all in all, 
We ne'er shall look upon his like again.'" 

* * By Mr. John Randolph, of Roanoke. 



THE END. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE A. 



It appears by the journal of the house of burgesses, of the 14th 
November, 1764, (page 38,) that a committee was appointed 
to draw up the following address, memorial, and remonstrance ; 
which committee was composed of the following persons, to wit : 
Mr. Attorney, (Peyton Randolph,) Mr. Richard Henry Lee, Mr. 
Landon Carter, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Edmund Pendleton, Mr. Benja- 
min Harrison, Mr. Gary, and Mr. Fleming, to whom, afterward, 
Mr. Bland was added. The address to the king is from the pen 
of the attorney.* 

" To the King's most excellent Majesty. 
" Most Gracious Sovereign, 

" We, your majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects, the council 
and burgesses of your ancient colony and dominion of Virginia, 
now met in general assembly, beg leave to assure your majesty of 
our firm and inviolable attachment to your sacred person and gov- 
ernment ; and as your faithful subjects here have at all times been 
zealous to demonstrate this truth, by a ready compliance with the 

♦ On the authority of Mr. Jefferson. 

447 



448 APPENDIX. 

royal requisitions during the late war, by which a heavy and op- 
pressive debt of near half a million hath been incurred, so at this 
time they implore permission to approach the throne with humble 
confidence, and to entreat that your majesty will be graciously 
pleased to protect our people of this colony in the enjoyment of 
their ancient and inestimable right of being governed by such laws, 
respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are derived from 
their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign or his 
substitute : a right which, as men, and descendants of Britons, 
they have ever quietly possessed, since, first by royal permission 
and encouragement, they left the mother kingdom to extend its 
commerce and dominion. 

" Your majesty's dutiful subjects of Virginia most humbly and 
unanimously hope, that this invaluable birthright, descended to 
them from their ancestors, and in which they have been protected 
by your royal predecessors, will not be suff'ered to receive an 
injury under the reign of your sacred majesty, already so illustri- 
ously distinguished by your gracious attention to the liberties of 
the people. 

" That your majesty may long live to make nations happy, is 
the ardent prayer of your faithful subjects, the council and bur- 
gesses of Virginia." 

The author cannot learn who drew the following memorial ; but 
from the style of the composition, compared with the members of 
the committee, and the distribution of its other labours, he thinks it 
probable that it was Mr. Pendleton ; possibly Mr. Bland. 



APPENDIX. 449 

*' To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, 

in Parliament assembled : — 
•* Tlie Memorial of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia, now 

met in General Assembly. 
" Humbly represents, 

" That your memorialists hope an application to your lord- 
ships, the fixed and hereditary guardians of British liberty, will 
not be thought improper at this time, when measures are propos- 
ed, subversive, as they conceive, of that freedom, which all men, 
especially those who derive their constitution from Britain, have 
a right to enjoy ; and they flatter themselves that your lordships 
will not look upon them as objects so unworthy your attention, as 
to regard any impropriety in the form or manner of their applica- 
tion, for your lordships' protection, of their just and undoubted 
rights as Britons. 

" It cannot be presumption in your memorialists to call them- 
selves by this distinguished name, since they are descended 
from Britons, who left their native country to extend its territory 
and dominion, and who, happily for Britain, and as your me- 
morialists once thought, for themselves too, effected this purpose. 
As our ancestors brought with them every right and privilege 
they could with justice claim in their mother kingdom, their de- 
scendants may conclude, they cannot be deprived of those rights 
without injustice. 

" Your memorialists conceive it to be a fundamental principle 

of the ^n'^isA constitution, without which freedom can nowhere 

exist, that the people are not subject to any taxes but such as are 

laid on them by their own consent or by those who are legally 

3 L 38* 



450 APPENDIX. 

appointed to represent them : property must become too precari- 
ous for the genius of a free people which can be taken from them 
at the will of others, who cannot know what taxes such people can 
bear, or the easiest mode of raising them ; and who are not under 
that restraint, which is the greatest security against a burdensome 
taxation, when the representatives themselves must be aflected by 
every tax imposed on the people. 

" Your memorialists are therefore led into an humble confi- 
dence, that your lordships will not think any reason sufficient to 
support such a power, in the British parliament, where the colo- 
nies cannot be represented : a power never before constitutionally 
assumed, and which, if they have a right to exercise on any occa- 
sion, must necessarily establish this melancholy truth, that the in- 
habitants of the colonies are the slaves of Britons from whom 
they are descended ; and from whom they might expect every 
indulgence that the obligations of interest and affection can enti- 
tle them to. 

" Your memorialists have been invested with the right of taxing 
their own people from the first establishment of a regular govern- 
ment in the colony, and requisitions have been constantly made to 
them by their sovereigns, on all occasions when the assistance of 
the colony was thought necessary to preserve the British interest 
in America ; from whence they must conclude they cannot now 
be deprived of a right they have so long enjoyed, and which they 
have never forfeited. 

" The expenses incurred during the last war, in compliance 
with the demands on this colony by our late and present most 
gracious sovereigns, have involved us in a debt of near half a mil- 



APPENDIX. 451 

lion, a debt not likely to decrease under the continued expense we 
are at, in providing for the security of the people against the in- 
cursions of our savage neighbours ; at a time when the low state 
of our staple commodity, the total want of specie, and the late 
restrictions upon the trade of the colonies, render the circumstan- 
ces of the people extremely distressful ; and which, if taxes are 
accumulated upon them by the British parliament, will make them 
truly deplorable. 

" Your memorialists cannot suggest to themselves any reason 
why they should not still be trusted with the property of their peo- 
ple, with whose abilities, and the least burdensome mode of tax- 
ing, (with great deference to the superior wisdom of parliament,) 
they must be best acquainted. 

" Your memorialists hope they shall not be suspected of being 
actuated, on this occasion, by any principles but those of the pur- 
est loyalty and affection, as they always endeavoured by their con- 
duct to demonstrate, that they consider their connexion with Great 
Britain, the seat of liberty, as their greatest happiness. 

" The duty they owe to themselves and their posterity, lays 
your memorialists under the necessity of endeavoiiring to estab- 
lish their constitution upon its proper foundation ; and they do 
most humbly pray your lordships to take this subject into your 
consideration with the attention that is due to the well-being of 
the colonies, on which the prosperity of Great Britaiii does, in a 
great measure, depend." 

Mr. Wythe was the author of the following remonstrance. 
" It was done with so much freedom, that, as he told me 
himself, his colleagues of the committee shrunk from it as wear- 



452 APPENDIX. 

ing the aspect of treason, and smoothed its features to its present 
form."* 

" To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of 

Great Britain, in Parliament assembled : — 
" The Remonstrance of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia. 

" It appearing, by the printed votes of the house of commons 
of Great Britain in parliament assembled, that in a committee of 
the whole house the 17th day of March, last, it was resolved, that 
toward defending, protecting, and securing the British colonies 
and plantations in America, it may be proper to charge certain 
stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations ; and it being 
apprehended that the same subject, which was then declined, may 
be resumed and further pursued in a succeeding session, the coun- 
cil and burgesses of Virginia, met in general assembly, judge it 
their indispensable duty, in a respectful manner, but with decent 
firmness, to remonstrate against such a measure ; that at least a 
cession of those rights, Avhich in their opinion must be infringed 
by that procedure, may not be inferred from their silence, at so 
important a crisis. 

" They conceive it is essential to British liberty, that laws, 
imposing taxes on the people, ought not to be made without the 
consent of representatives chosen by themselves ; who, at the 
same time that they are acquainted with the circumstances of 
their constituents, sustain a portion of the burden laid on them. 
The privileges, inherent in the persons who discovered and set- 
tled these regions, could not be renounced or forfeited by their 

* Mr. Jefferson. 



APPENDIX. 453 

removal hither, not as vagabonds or fugitives, but licensed and 
encouraged by their prince, and animated with a laudable de- 
sire of enlarging the British dominion, and extending its com- 
merce : on the contrary, it was secured to them and their de- 
scendants, with all other rights and immunities of British subjects, 
by a royal charter, which hath been invariably recognised and 
confirmed by his majesty and his predecessors, in their com- 
missions to the several governors, granting a power, and prescrib- 
ing a form of legislation ; according to which, laws for the ad- 
ministration of justice, and for the welfare and good government 
of the colony, have been hitherto enacted by the governor, coun- 
cil, and general assembly ; and to them, requisitions and applica- 
tions for supplies have been directed by the crown. As an in- 
stance of the opinion which former sovereigns entertained of these 
rights and privileges, we beg leave to refer to three acts of the 
general assembly, passed in the 32d year of the reign of King 
Charles II., (one of which is entitled ' An act for raising a public 
revenue for the better support of the government of his majesty's col- 
ony of Virginia,^ imposing several duties for that purpose,) which 
being thought absolutely necessary, were prepared in England, 
and sent over by their then governor, the lord Culpeper, to be 
passed by the general assembly, with a full power to give the royal 
assent thereto ; and which were accordingly passed, after several 
amendments were made to them here : thus tender was his ma- 
jesty of the rights of his American subjects ; and the remonstrants 
do not discern by what distinction they can be deprived of that sa- 
cred birthright and most valuable inheritance by their fellow-sub- 
jects, nor with what propriety they can be taxed or affected m their 



454 APPENDIX. 

estates, by the parliament, wherein they are not, and indeed can- 
not, constitutionally, be represented. 

" And if it were proper for the parliament to impose taxes on 
the colonies at all, which the remonstrants take leave to think 
would be inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the 
constitution, the exercise of that power, at this time, would be 
ruinous to Virginia, who exerted herself in the late war, it is 
feared beyond her strength, insomuch that to redeem the mon'ey 
granted for that exigence, her people are taxed for several years 
to come ; this, with the larger expenses incurred for defending 
the frontiers against the restless Indians, who have infested her 
as much since the peace as before, is so grievous, that an in- 
crease of the burthen would be intolerable ; especially as the peo- 
ple are very greatly distressed already from the scarcity of circu- 
lating cash amongst them, and from the little value of their staple 
at the British markets. 

" And it is presumed, that adding to that load which the colony 
now labours under, will not be more oppressive to her j)eople 
than destructive of the interest of Great Britain : for the planta- 
tion trade, confined as it is to the mother-country, hath been a 
principal means of multiplying and enriching her inhabitants ; 
and, if not too much discouraged, may prove an inexhaustible 
source of treasure to the nation. For satisfaction in this point, 
let the present state of the British fleets and trade be compared 
with what they were before the settlement of the colonies ; and 
let it be considered, that whilst property in land may be acquired 
on very easy terms, in the vast uncultivated territory of North 
America, the colonists will be mostly, if not wholly, employed in 
agriculture ; whereby the exportation of their commodities to 
Great Britain, and the consumption of manufactures supplied from 



APPENDIX. 455 

thence, will be daily increasing. But this most desirable con- 
nexion between Great Britain and her colonies, supported by 
such a happy intercourse of reciprocal benefits as is continually 
advancing the prosperity of both, must be interrupted, if the peo- 
ple of the latter, reduced to extreme poverty, should be compelled 
to manufacture those articles they have been liitherto furnished 
with from the former. 

' From these considerations, it is hoped that the honourable 
house of commons will not prosecute a measure which those 
who may sufl'er under it cannot but look upon as fitter for exiles 
driven from their native country, after ignominiously forfeiting 
her favours and protection, than for the posterity of Britons, 
who have at all times been forward to demonstrate all due rever- 
ence to the mother-kingdom ; and are so instrumental in promo- 
ting her glory and felicity ; and that British patriots will never 
consentto the exercise of any anti-constitutional power which, even 
in this remote corner, may be dangerous in its example to the in- 
terior parts of the British empire, and will certainly be detrimen- 
tal to its commerce." 



NOTE B. 

Council Chamber, October 17th, 1785. 

Sir — Since the last session of assembly, I have received sun- 
dry acts, resolutions, and other communications from congress, 
which I transmit to the general assembly, marked No. 1, and 
which will claim the attention of the legislature, according to their 
nature and importance, respectively. 

The execution of the militia law hath caused much embarrass- 



456 APPENDIX. 

ment to the executive. Compelled to name all the field officers 
throughout the state, and possessing sufficient information as to 
the fitness of individuals for these offices in a few counties only, 
they were constrained to search out proper persons, by such 
means as accident furnished, and by letters addressed to the seve- 
ral counties. In some instances, the gentleman to whom they 
were addressed, refused to give any information. In many oth- 
ers, the answers came too late to avail ; the laAV directing the 
commissions to issue , the first of April. In this situation, the 
business has been conducted: and from a partial knowledge of 
characters in some counties, and a total ignorance of them in 
others, I am sensible many who are worthy of command have 
been passed by, and others less fit for office may have been 
commissioned. And notwithstanding a close attention has been 
given to this business, many of the counties have not yet been 
officered, for want of the recommendations of captains and sub- 
alterns. 

Finding that the arms and ammunition directed to be purchas- 
ed, could not be procured except from beyond the sea, applica- 
tion has been made by me to Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de 
la Fayette, requesting their assistance to Mr. Barclay, (who was 
commissioned to make the purchase,) in accomplishing this im- 
portant Avork ; and I have the satisfaction to find, that the affair is 
in such a train as to promise the speedy arrival of these much- 
wanted articles. For more full information respecting this trans- 
action, I send you sundry letters, (No. 2,) by one of which you 
will see that our noble friend the marquis offers us his services, if 
there shall be occasion for them. 

I transmit, herewith, a letter from the honourable Mr. Hardy, 
covering a memorial to congress from simdry inhabitants of Wash- 



APPENDIX. 457 

ington county, praying the establishment of an independent state, 
to be bounded as is therein expressed. The proposed limits in- 
clude a vast extent of country in which we have numerous and 
very respectable settlements, which, in their growth, will form 
an invaluable barrier between this country and those who, in the 
course of events, may occupy the vast plains westward of the 
mountains, some of whom may have views incompatible with our 
safety. Already the militia of that part of the state is among the 
most respectable we have : and by these means it is, that the 
neighbouring Indians are awed into professions of friendship. 
But a circumstance has lately happened, which renders the pos- 
session of that territory, at the present time, indispensable to the 
peace and safety of Virginia : I mean the assumption of sovereign 
power by the western inhabitants of North Carolina. If these 
people, who, without consulting their own safety or any other au- 
thority known in the American constitution, have assumed govern- 
ment, and while unallied to us, and under no engagements to pur 
sue the objects of the federal government, they shall be strength 
ened by the accession of so great a part of our country, consequen 
ces fatal to our repose will probably follow. It is to be observed, 
that the settlements of this new society stretch on to great extent 
in contact with ours in Washington county, and thereby expose 
our citizens to the contagion of that example, which bids fair to 
destroy the peace of North Carolina. 

In this state of things it is, that variety of informations have 
come to me, stating that several persons, but especially Col. Ar 
thur Campble, have used their utmost endeavours, and with some 
success, to persuade the citizens in that quarter to break off from 
this commonwealth, and attach themselves to the newly-assumed 
government, or erect one, distinct from it. And in order to effect 
3 M C.9 



458 APPENDIX. 

this purpose, the equity and authority of the laws have been ar 
raigned, the collection of the taxes impeded, and our national char 
acter impeached. But as I send you the several papers I have re^ 
ceived on that subject, I need not enlarge further than remark 
that if this most important part of our territory be lopped off, wo 
lose that barrier for which our people have long and often fought 
that nursery of soldiers from which future armies may be levied, 
and through which it will be almost impossible for our enemies to 
penetrate : we shall aggrandize the new state, whose connexions. 
views, and designs we know not ; shall cease to be formidable to 
our savage neighbours, or respectable to our western settlements, 
at present and in future. 

While these and many other matters were contemplated by the 
executive, it is natural to suppose, the attempt for separation was 
discouraged by every lawful means ; the chief of which was, dis- 
placing such of the field officers of militia, in Washington county, 
as were active partisans for separation, in order to prevent the 
weight of office being cast in the scale against this state : to this 
end a proclamation was issued, declaring the militia law of the last 
session in force, in that county, and appointments of officers were 
made agreeable to it. 

I hope to be excused for expressing a wish, that the assembly, 
in deliberating on this affair, will prefer lenient measures in order 
to reclaim our erring fellow-citizens. Their taxes have run into 
three years' arrear, and, thereby, grown to an amount beyond the 
ability of many to discharge, while the system of our trade has 
been such, as to render their agriculture unproductive of money; 
and I cannot but suppose, that if even the warmest supporters of 
separation had seen the mischievous consequences of it, they 
would have retracted ; and condemned that intemperance in their 



APPENDIX. 459 

own proceedings, which opposition in sentiments is too apt to 
produce. 

A letter from the countess of Huntingdon and another from Sir 
James Jay, expressing her intentions to attempt the civilization of 
the Indians, are also sent you. It will rest with the assembly to 
decide upon the means for executing this laudable design, that re- 
flects so much honour on that worthy lady. 

By a resolution of the last assembly, the auditors were prevent- 
ed from liquidating the claims of the officers and soldiers, after 
the first day of May last. Although the wisdom of such a meas- 
ure must be admitted, yet several cases have come to my know- 
ledge where claims, founded upon the clearest principles of jus- 
tice, have been rejected by reason of that restriction : and when 
I consider that the claimants will be found to consist, in consider- 
able degree, of widows, orphans, and those who have been taken 
prisoners, I am persuaded the assembly will think that a rigorous 
adherence to the forementioned resolution is improper, and that 
justice will be done to the claims of those few, whose poverty, ig- 
norance, or other misfortunes, prevented earlier applications. 

By Mr. Ross's letter. No. 5, ihe assembly will observe his de- 
mand against the state, and that it can be properly discussed only 
by the legislature. Although the post at Point of Fork has been 
long occupied, I cannot discover the least trace of title to the ground 
vested in the public, or any previous stipidation with the proprie- 
tor for the temporary possession of it. While the assembly are 
considering of a proper satisfaction to the owner for the time past, 
I trust provision will be made to secure a permanent repository for 
the public arras and mihtary stores, at that or some other place 
most proper for the purpose. 

The honourable William Nelson hath resigned his office as a 
member of the council, as appears by his letter. No. 6. 



460 APPENDIX. 

The honourable Henry Tazewell, esq., has been appointed a 
judge of the general court in the room of the hon. B. Danbridge, 
esq. deceased, until the assembly shall signify take pleasure. 

The honourable Geo. Muter, esq., has been appointed a judge of 
the general court in Kentucky, in the room of Cyrus Griffin, esq., 
who resigned his appointment. 

Thomas Massie, esq., having resigned his appointment for open- 
ing a road on the northwestern frontier, Joseph Neville, esq., has 
been appointed in his room. 

The report of the commissioners for disposing of the Gosport 
lands. No. 9, will explain to the assembly their transactions in that 
business. 

Mr. Rene Rapicault, of New Orleans, exhibited an account 
against this commonwealth for a considerable sum of money which 
appears to be due to him. But as it will be found by reference to 
his papers, No. 10, that this debt, however just, cannot be paid 
from any fund now existing, it is submitted to the legislature to 
make such provision for its payment, as to them shall seem proper. 
The report of the commissioners for extending the bo^jndary 
line between Virginia and Pennsylvania, No. 11, will explain the 
manner in which that business has been executed. 

By Mr. Jefferson's letters it appears, that the original sum grant- 
ed to procure a statue of General Washington will be deficient. 
The further sum wanting, together with the reasons for increas- 
ing the expense of the work, will appear by Mr. Jefferson's cor- 
responctence, No. 12. 

The crews of the boats Liberty and Patriot were ordered to be 
enlisted for 12 months from August last, unless sooner discharged. 
This was done in order that the assembly might, if they judged 
proper, determine to discontinue them, or if they are retained, 



APPENDIX. 461 

make suitable provision for their siipport : hitherto, that has been 
defrayed out of the contingent fund. But the great variety of ex- 
penses charged on that fund, make it necessary, in future, to pro- 
vide some other mode of support for them. The assembly will, no 
doubt, observe in the course of their deliberations on the subject 
of revenue, that it is necessary for the executive to commission 
the officers. The officer commanding one of these boats has de- 
lected several persons attempting to evade the payment of duty, 
and in compliance w^ith the law, as he supposes, took bonds for the 
payment of the penalties imposed for making false entries. But it 
seems there are great difficulties in recovering judgment on these 
bonds, owing to ambiguity in the law respecting the subject. The 
assembly will apply such remedy for this evil as they think proper. 

Application hath been made to the executive, on the subject ol 
paying into the continental treasury, warrants for interest due on 
loan office certificates, and other liquidated claims against the con- 
tinent. And although there can be no doubt that payments, made 
by the treasurer to the continental receiver, may include the pro- 
portion of warrants specified by congress in their act of the 2Sth 
of April, 1784, yet the receiver, when possessed of the cash, al- 
though it was unaccompanied by any warrants, does not conceive 
himself justified in parting with any money in exchange for them. 
So that until the assembly shall interpose, by making these 
warrants receivable at the treasury, our citizens will suffer great 
injury, and be deprived of a facility enjoyed by the citizens of the 
other states. 

The sum of money allowed by the assembly in their resolution 
of the 13th of June, 1783, for compiling, printing, and binding the 
laws, has proved inadequate to the purpose ; five hundred pounds 
having been expended in the printing, and two hundred and fifty 

39 



462 APPENDIX. 

engaged to be divided among the gentlemen who made the compi- 
lation ; so that nothing is left to pay for the binding. 

I cannot forbear informing the assembly , that many county courts 
have failed to recommend sherifTs in the months of June and July. 
In consequence of this, many of the counties will be without sher- 
iffs, in as much as the executive think they have no power to is- 
sue commissions in such cases. As this evil threatens so many 
parts of the state with anarchy, I have no doubt of the legislature 
remedying it with all possible despatch. 

I have the honour to be, with great regard, 

Your most obedient, humble servant, 

P. HENRY. 
The Honourable the speaker of the House of Delegates. 



NOTE C. 

Judge Tucker, in his edition of Blackstone, having fallen into 
Mr. Randolph's mistake, in regard to the case of Josiah Philips, 
the following note has been furnished to the author by the gentle- 
man who was the chairman of the committee : — 

" The case of Josiah Philips, I find strangely represented by 
Judge Tucker and Mr. Edmund Randolph, and very negligently 
vindicated by Mr. Henry. That case is personally known to me, 
because I was of the legislature at the time, was one of those con- 
sulted by Mr. Henry, and had my share in the passage of the bill. 
I never before saw the observations of those gentlemen, which 
you quote on this case, and will now, therefore, briefly make some 
strictures on them. 

" Judge Tucker, instead of a definition of the functions of bills 
of attainder, has given a just diatribe against their abuse. The oc- 
casion and proper office of a bill of attainder is this ; when a per- 



APPENDIX. 463 

son charged with a crime withdraws from justice, or resists it by 
force, either in his own or a foreign country, no other means of 
bringing him to trial or punishment being practicable, a special act 
is passed by the legislature, adapted to the particular case ; this 
prescribes to him a sufficient term to appear and submit to a trial 
by his peers, declares that his refusal to appear shall be taken as a 
confession of guilt, as in the ordinary case of an offender at the 
bar refusing to plead, and pronounces the sentence which would 
have been rendered on his confession or conviction in a court of 
law. No doubt that these acts of attainder have been abused in 
England as instruments of vengeance by a successful over a de- 
feated party. But what institution is insusceptible of abuse, in 
wicked hands ? 

" Again, the judge says, ' the court refused to pass sentence of 
execution pursuant to the directions of the act.' The court could 
not refuse this, because it was never proposed to them, and my au- 
thority for this assertion shall be presently given. 

" For the perversion of a fact so intimately known to himself, 
Mr. Randolph can be excused only by our indulgence for orators 
who, pressed by a powerful adversary, lose sight, in the ardour of 
conflict, of the rigorous accuracies of fact, and permit their imagi- 
nation to distort and colour them to the views of the moment. He 
was attorney-general at the time, and told me himself the first time 
I saw him after the trial of Philips, that when taken and delivered 
up to justice, he had thought it best to make no use of the act of 
attainder, and to take no me asure under it ; that he had endicted 
him, at the common law, either for murder or robbery, (I forget 
which, and whether for both,) that he was tried on this endictm ent 
in the ordinary way, found guilty by the jury, sentenced and exe- 
cuted imder the common law ; a course which every one approv- 



464 APPENDIX. 

od, because the first object of the act of attainder was, to bring 
Mm to fair trial. Whether Mr. Randolph was right in this inform- 
ation to me, or, when in the debate with Mr. Henry, he repre- 
sents this atrocious offender as sentenced and executed under the 
act of attainder, let the record of the case decide. 

" ' Without being confronted with his accusers and witnesses, 
without the privilege of calling for evidence in his behalf, he was 
sentenced to death, and afterward actually executed.' I appeal to 
the universe to produce one single instance, from the first estab- 
lishment of government in this state to the present day, where, in a 
trial at bar, a criminal has been refused confrontation with his ac- 
cusers and witnesses, or denied the privilege of calling for evi- 
dence in his behalf. Had it been done in this case, I would have 
asked of the attorney-general, why he proposed or permitted it ? 
But, without having seen the record, I will venture, on the charac- 
ter of our courts, to deny that it was done. But if Mr. Randolph 
meant, only, that Philips had not these advantages, on the passage 
of the bill of attainder, how idle to charge the legislature with omit- 
ting to confront the culprit with his witnesses, when he was stand- 
ing out in arms, and in defiance of their authority ; and their sen- 
tence was to take efiect, only on his ovvn refusal to come in and be 
confronted. We must either, therefore, consider this as a mere hy- 
perbolism of imagination, in the heat of debate, or, what I should 
rather believe, a defective statement by the reporter of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's argument. I suspect this last the rather, because this 
point in the charge of Mr. Randolph, is equally omitted in the de- 
fence of Mr. Henry. This gentleman must have known that Phil- 
ips was tried and executed under the common law, and yet, accord- 
ing to this report, he rests his defence on a justification of the at- 
tainder only. But all who knew Mr. Henry, know, that when at 



APPENDIX. 465 

ease in argument, ho was sometimes careless, not giving himself 
the trouble of ransacking either liis memory or imagination for all 
the topics of his subject, or his audience that of hearing them. No 
man on earth knew better when he had said enough for his hearers. 
" Mr. Randolph charges us with having read the bill three times 
in the same day. I do not remember the fact, nor whether this 
was enforced on us by the urgency of the ravages of Philips, or 
of the time at which the bill was introduced. I have some idea it 
was at or near the close of the session. The journals, which I 
have not, will ascertain this fact." 

The following proceedings against Josiah Philips and his asso- 
ciates, are extracted from the records of the general court ; and are 
followed by the notice of the execution of these men, from the 
public prints of the day : which, it is hoped, will put a final end 
to this mistake, so little to the honour of our revolution. 

" Virginia, to wit : — 

" The jurors for the commonwealth, upon their oath present : 
That Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county 
of Princess Ann, labourer, on the ninth day of IMay, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, with 
force and arms, at the parish aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, in 
the highway of the commonwealth there, in and upon one James 
Hargrove, in the peace of God and of the commonwealth, then 
and there being, feloniously did make an assault, and him, the said 
James Hargrove, in bodily fear and danger of his life, in the high- 
way aforesaid, then and there feloniously did put, and twenty- 
eight men's felt hats of the value of twenty shillings each, and 
five pounds of twine of the value of five shillings each pound, of 
the goods and chattels of the said James Hargrove, from the per- 
3 N 



4G6 APPENDIX. 

son and against, the will of the said James Hargrove, in the high- 
way aforesaid, then and there feloniously and violently did steal, 
take, and carry away, against the peace and dignity of the com- 
monwealth. 

"Witness. — James Hargrove, Benjamin Griffin, William Lovett, 
Polly Davis, Horatio Davis, and John Matthias. Sworn in court 
Oct. 20th, 1778. ■ John May." 

The above endictment is thus endorsed : — 

" An endictment against Josiah Philips for robbery," (in Mr. 
Randolph's hand-writing.) " A true bill. Wm. Holt, foreman." 

" Virginia. 

" In the General Court, 20th October, 1778. 
'Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county 
of Princess Ann, labourer, who stands endicted for robbery, was 
led to the bar in custody of the keeper of the public jail, and was 
thereof arraigned, and pleaded not guilty to the endictment, and for 
his trial put himself upon God and the country. Whereupon came 
a jury, to wit : James Letate, Thomas Stanley, Gilliam Booth, 
Stapleton Crutchfield, John Tankerley, John Draper, Leonard 
Henley, Micajah Chiles, Richard Swepson, William James Lewis, 
Thomas Cowles, and Abrose Raines, who, being elected, tried and 
sworn the truth of, and upon premises to speak, and having heard 
the evidence, upon their oath do say, that the said Josiah Philips 
is guilty of the robbery aforesaid in manner and form as in the 
endictment against him is alleged, and that he had neither lands 
nor tenements, goods nor chattels at the time of committing the 
said robbery, nor at any time since, to their knowledge ; and there- 
upon he is remanded to jail. 



APPENDIX. 467 

" October the 27th, 1778. 

" Josiah Philips, late of the parish of Lynhaven, in the county 
of Princess Ann, labourer, who stands convicted of robbery, was 
again led to the bar in custody of the keeper of the public jail, 
and thereupon it being demanded of him if any thing he had or 
knew to say for himself, why the court, here, to judgment and ex- 
ecution of and upon the premises, should not proceed, he said he 
had nothing but what he had before said. Therefore, it is con- 
sidered by the court, that he be hanged by the neck until he be 
dead. 

« October 28, 1778. 

" John Lowry, John Reizen, and Charles Bowman, for murder, 
Josiah Philips, James Hodges, Henry M'Lalen, and Robert Hod- 
ges, ybr robbery, James Randolph for horse-stealing, Joseph Tur- 
ner, otherwise called Josiah Blankenship, for burglary, and John 
Highwarden for grand larceny, being under sentence of death by 
the judgment of the court yesterday passed against them for their 
said offence : It is awarded, that execution of the said sentence 
be severally made and done upon them the said John Lowry, John 
Reizen, Charles Bowman, Josiah Philips, James Hodges, Henry 
M'Lalen, Robert Hodges, James Randolph, Joseph Turner, other- 
wise called Josiah Blankenship, and John Highwarden, by the 
sheriff of York county, on Friday the fourth day of December next, 
between the hours of ten and twelve in the forenoon, at the usual 
place of execution. 

" Copies — Teste, 

"Peyton Drkw, C. G. C." 



468 APPENDIX. 

Extract, from Dixon and Hunters paper of October 30th, 1778. 

"Williamsburg — x\t a general court, begun and held at the 
capitol the 10th instant, the following criminals were condemned 
to suffer death : Charles Bowman, from Prince George, for mur- 
der ; John Lowry, froin Bedford, for ditto ; Josiah Philips, James 
Hodges, Robert Hodges, and Henry M'Lalen,from Princess Ann, 
for robbery ; John Highwarden, from Fauquier, for grand larceny ; 
Joseph Turner, alias Josiah Blankenship, from Albemarle, for bur- 
glary; and James Randolph, from Culpeper, for horse-stealing." 

Extract from Dixon and Hunter's paper of December 4, 1778. 

"Williamsburg — This day were executed, at the gallows near 
this city, pursuant to their sentence, the following criminals, viz.: 
Josiah Philips, Henry M'Lalen, Robert Hodges, John Reizeu 
and Josiah Blankenship." 

THE END. 



^ 




.0 c 









r . 



/: 



'"■'- ^' 






■>-% 



V 









,<\ 



S"^' 



f '*r 



^^y- v^ 






> 









^.S-- 
^^'' % 









1 ■>' 



o.'^' 












.^' 



= '^^^.<^'^' 
















-^ 



,^^ c^ 



'J'^ 







,0 

.0^ 









%^ 









.0^ 



.N^^'"^-^ 



•^c.. 






,A^ 









'2- ■ ' J^ 



% 









,0- o. 



.<x^^ 






<^ 'C' 


















'5^. C ■ 









-^^ 



r>0^ 






\ ^t^;;^^^ 



V-' "^( 



,.v 






'•^c*- ■.;''**^^i*^..^ .^^' 



